The New Authority
by ZVArmy
Summary: Being asked to take a heel turn was not something that Bayley had ever expected, and neither was being put into an on-screen relationship with Seth Rollins. Will working together on-screen lead to something developing between them off it? (Seth/Bayley)
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: After seeing the recent Twitter antics with Seth, Bayley and Sasha, I just knew that Seth/Bayley fanfiction had to be a thing, so I decided that I had to write it myself!_

 _Please note that characters will be referred to by their in-ring names as much as possible._

 _I wanted to title this story Authority 2.0, but that's not a valid title on FFNet for some reason. Sigh._

* * *

Standing on the stage, looking down towards the ring, Hunter Helmsley wasn't looking forward to what he was about to do at all. This wasn't the first time that one of his NXT stars - that was how he thought of them - had been called up to the main roster, only to be used in a way that Hunter wasn't particularly keen on. If he didn't know better, he might have thought that Vince McMahon was deliberately trying to make NXT stars look weak and unsuccessful when they made the step up. That wasn't going to happen this time though, Hunter was determined about that. Bayley had been left in NXT for a long time, supposedly waiting until the time was right. Now, after only a month on the main roster, Vince had decided that he wanted to throw drastic changes her way.

While the new plan that the Chairman had decided on definitely did have its positives, Hunter had immediately known that Bayley was going to be upset when she was told what was expected of her, which was why he had insisted that he had to be the one to break the news to her. She was one of his, so to speak, and he wanted nothing but success for her. What he had to do was explain to her that she could turn what would at first seem like a very negative step for her character and career into a positive, if she worked hard enough at it. After all, it was hard work that had gotten her this far in the business, which was why both Hunter and the fans liked her so much.

Wanting to put it off no longer, he walked down the ramp towards the ring. Bayley, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox were in the ring, helping each other with some light practicing. When he caught Bayley's eye, Hunter gestured towards the side of ring with his head, clearly asking her to join him for a quick chat. It hurt him somewhat to see the familiar eager smile on her face as she walked over towards the ropes, knowing that he was about to make it disappear. No one had ever said that being responsible for talent relations was supposed to be an easy job, and for good reason.

"Hey, Hunter," Bayley said enthusiastically as she climbed through the ropes and sat down on the ring apron. "Everything okay?"

Hunter took a seat on the apron beside her, which was the first indication Bayley got that he had something serious to say to her. "I've got some good news and some bad news for you, Bayley."

"Really?" she asked a little wearily. "I'll take the good news first then."

"Okay," Hunter said with as much of a smile as he could muster. "We just got out of a creative meeting. Long story short, Vince wants to change things up in the Raw Women's Division. You're going over Charlotte for the title tonight."

"I'm what?" Bayley exclaimed, totally stunned by the announcement. Emotions started to hit her thick and fast; excitement, delight, and most of all gratitude. She was only in this position because of the man sitting beside her, the man who had supported her so much since day one when she had signed for WWE. Just hearing him say that she was going to win the title brought tears to her eyes, much as she would have willed them away if she could. "Thank you, Hunter. I don't know what to say." She wiped at her eyes, not wanting to let the tears make it as far as running down her cheeks.

"There's still the bad news," Hunter reminded her gently.

"What's that?" she asked, figuring that whatever it was couldn't be all that bad, especially not when she was going to win the title.

Hunter couldn't help sighing as he said it. "We need you to turn heel."

Hearing that hit Bayley like a lightning bolt, or maybe like a knife viciously stabbing her in the heart. The fan loving, child friendly character that she had been given on NXT was her favourite part of the job. It was literally perfect for her and fitted in so well with her own personality. She was easily able to live her gimmick, and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. Nothing felt better than seeing all the kids wearing their Bayley merchandise, having the time of their lives as she made her entrance, or even more so if they actually had the chance to meet her in person. There was no better feeling than being able to give those kids such joy and excitement. And now she was being asked to do the opposite; to renounce that character, to turn on the fans, to no longer be the kid's favourite. It was awful. It was heartbreaking. Given the choice - not that she expected for a second that she might be given the choice, Vince McMahon didn't work that way - she would have rather not won the title if it meant keeping her gimmick. That was how much it meant to her.

"Oh Hunter," was all she could say before a lump formed in her throat.

"I know," Hunter said, putting a comforting arm around her. "Believe me, I fought your corner on this, but Vince was insistent. He's decided that Charlotte's heel run is getting stale, which is a fair point to be honest, and that he wants a new top heel in the division."

"But why me?" Bayley had to ask. This time she couldn't stop the tears, nor did she try to. These were very different tears. "Sasha plays a great heel."

Seeing her upset was hard for Hunter, even though he had known for sure that it would happen. Harder still was the fact that he couldn't tell her that he would go away and have a rethink on it, it wasn't his idea to rethink. What he had to do was get her to accept the reality of it and then go on and own it as he knew she could, and almost certainly would. "It's not going to be Sasha, it's you, Bayley," he told her, managing to make the statement both definitive and sympathetic at the same time.

Looking him in the eye proved to be too much for Bayley. She could tell that her mentor didn't want to be passing on this news any more than she wanted to receive it, so there was absolutely no point in giving him a hard time over it, not that it was in her nature to do so anyway. There were people in the locker room who were ready and willing to kick up a fuss over their creative if they didn't like it, but she was not one of them. Plus there was the fact that she was new to the main roster. If Vince got the idea that she was awkward to work with, she would be heading down the road to burial before she even got started. As awful as the idea of a heel turn was, she had no choice in the matter. Even that realisation didn't make it feel any better. "What have I got to do?" she mumbled, looking down at her lap, focusing on nothing.

"You're joining The Authority," Hunter revealed. That was the first part of it at least.

"Corporate sellout, like Rollins," she mumbled, without any of her customary enthusiasm.

"Actually _with_ Rollins," Hunter corrected her. The Summerslam pay-per-view had taken place the previous night, with the main event being Seth Rollins against Finn Balor for the new WWE Universal Championship. Hunter's character had returned at the end of that match, costing Finn the match and effectively handing the title to Rollins. It was the opposite of what most of the fans had been expecting; rumors of a Triple H - Rollins rivalry had been swirling for some time, even before Seth's knee injury had ruled him out for six months. "The idea is that The Authority is being reformed properly for the first time since Seth got injured, only this time we're going to have the Universal Champion and the Women's Champion in our pockets."

The wrestling fan in Bayley wouldn't allow her not to be interesting in the idea. In any event, this was going to be what happened so she had to be smart enough to listen to what was going to be required of her. "That makes sense for The Authority. It makes sense for Seth too, that's been his character for a long time, but why does it make sense for Bayley to sell out? I don't get it."

That was part two of Vince's idea, and Hunter had to admit that he had no idea how she was going to take it. "The deal is, you're in a relationship with Seth. An on-screen relationship, I mean. That's part of what we're going to shock the fans with tonight. In due course it'll be revealed that you and Seth have been seeing each other for some time and you hatched the idea together of selling out to Triple H and Stephanie so that you could get the two top titles for yourselves."

"Wow," Bayley said, shaking her head. "People sure will hate us. From Vince's point of view I'm sure that's great, but what am I supposed to do, Hunter? I've literally lived this gimmick for so long that it's a part of me now. What am I supposed to do when I see kids wearing my stuff? What am I supposed to do when I meet kids and they want the 'old' Bayley back?"

"It will be hard," Hunter said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "There's no doubt about that. I need to ask you if you have a problem working a relationship angle with Seth. It will inevitably involve hugging him, kissing him."

That part of the new idea didn't concern Bayley. Seth was a nice enough guy, and in any event they were only playing a part in a TV show. Every actor or actress had to do that kind of thing at some point, and to some extent that's what wrestlers were. "No, I'm okay with that," she told Hunter. "It's just throwing away my character that I hate. It's going to be such a horrible thing to do."

"It is," Hunter nodded. Trying to play it down wouldn't have made sense, not when they both knew that what she'd said was true. "Look at me, Bayley." She looked up and met his gaze, her eyes still damp from the tears. "I need you to own this for me, okay?" he told her. Whether either of them liked it or not, there was business to be done. The last thing he wanted to happen was for the idea to flop and take her career with it. She was too good for that. "I know it's not what you wanted, and it's not what I wanted for you either, but it's what we've got. You're one of the best female wrestlers we've ever had, I've told you that before. You've got the potential to be the best, I really mean that. I'm proud of everything you've done to get here, and I will be proud of how well you perform in this new role, because you _are_ going to own it, and you _are_ going to be the best heel you can be, yes?"

Bayley had already known how highly Hunter thought of her, but hearing him reaffirm it there and then, at that moment meant so much to her. What he'd said was right, she knew that too. Turning heel was going to be an awful thing to have to do, and she was sure that it would take a long time to get used to it, but she had to do it, not just for herself, for all of the other people who had believed in her and supported her in her career up to this point. "I'll give it everything I've got," she promised.

"That's the Bayley I know," Hunter smiled. "So, this is how it's going to go down..."

* * *

Seth Rollins could hardly have been happier with life. The serious knee injury was healed and behind him, he was back in the ring and he had already been given another title run, as the first ever Universal Champion no less. Now there was the news that he was to again be given a key role in the stable The Authority. While there was something to be said for changing things up, maybe he could have been asked to return as a face character for example, Seth liked playing a heel. He also liked working with Triple H and Stephanie, feeling that after doing so for so long before his injury they had great chemistry with each other. Adding in an on-screen romance angle with Bayley had definitely come from out of left field, but Seth liked that idea too. Everyone in the locker room liked Bayley, it was almost impossible not to, so working with her promised to be a lot of fun. The only issue with the whole thing was that Bayley would need to turn heel, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that would be tough on her. Asking the female Cena to throw her character in the trash was certainly a brave and bold move on Vince McMahon's part. With a smile, Seth thought back to half an hour earlier when Hunter had finished telling him about the new idea.

"You and I both know how big a deal this is for Bayley, having only just made the move to the main roster. I expect you not to fuck her around."

"No worries," Seth had smiled. "Anything I can do to help her, I will. Not that I expect she will need much of it. She's the real deal in the ring, and she's got her head screwed on out of it."

When he saw his new partner walk into catering and then start heading towards him, the first thing he noticed was that she looked upset. In fact she looked like she had been crying. The news about the heel turn must have hit her hard, as expected. Seth had only just started on his meal, a surprisingly nice chicken salad sandwich, and had just started telling Roman Reigns, who was sitting opposite him, about the new creative plans. That conversation would have to wait though. "Here's Bayley now," he told his close friend. "I'll catch you later."

"Sure," Roman replied easily.

Scooping up his sandwich in its wrapper, Seth stood up and greeted Bayley as she approached. "Hey, Bayley. Are you okay?"

"Can we talk?" Bayley asked him with the best smile she could manage.

"Yeah, let's sit over here," Seth said, leading the way to a nearby empty table. "You got the news then, obviously. Are you okay?" he asked as he sat down and put the sandwich on the table.

Bayley took the seat opposite him and shook her head, deciding that she had to be honest with her new partner. They were obviously going to be working closely together for the foreseeable future, which would mean spending a lot of time with each other on the road. For that to go well, she figured that there needed to be honesty and trust between them. "To be honest, no, not really. Asking me to turn heel really came from nowhere and hit me hard. I really love my character, I love the kids, I love all of it. Now I have to suddenly leave it behind and play a corporate sellout, cowardly bitch. It's a lot to take in."

Seeing how much she was struggling - her eyes had dropped to the table top as she talked and remained there - Seth decided to offer something from his own past experience in the hope that it might make her feel a little better about it. "I know it's an easy and cliche thing to say, but I really do know how you're feeling right now."

"Oh?" Bayley looked up, eyebrows slightly raised.

"Remember the breakup of Shield? I came to TV one night and got the news out of the blue that I had to do that, that I was going to be the one to end it all and turn heel, joining The Authority."

"I hadn't thought about that," Bayley said, realising just how similar the two situations really were. Shield had been the popular thing at the time, even more popular than she was now. Seth had been lumbered with the burden of ending all of that as well as no longer teaming with the two men he had worked with night in, night out for years. "Wrestling really can be cruel, can't it?" she asked him. "It must have been so bad trying to get used to not teaming with Roman and Dean anymore. How did you do it?"

Remembering his manners, Seth finished his mouthful of sandwich before replying. "Honestly? I did the same thing you're going to have to do: I struggled for a while. I felt awkward, I felt out of place and I wanted things to go back to the way they were. But over time I got used to it, and now? Well, put it this way, Hunter asked me before I came back if I'd like him to talk to Vince about give me a face run. I told him no thanks, I'd rather be a heel."

"You would?" Bayley asked, leaning forward, totally engrossed in what he was saying now. He wasn't sugar coating anything, but he was telling her that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

"Damn right," Seth said with the kind of grin that he often used when in character. "Being a heel is just more fun. You can say more, you can do more, and it's your job to carry the rivalries you're put in. Hell, you don't need me to tell you those things. You know just as much about the business as I do. I'll just tell you what Hunter told me about my heel turn at the time."

"Go on," Bayley urged.

"You might think right now that Vince is screwing with you and wrecking your character. What he's actually doing is pushing you because he believes in you. I'm sure that's as true with you now as it was with me then." Pleasingly, he saw her usual much happier demeanour starting to return - she was actually smiling at him now.

"Thanks, Seth. I'm glad I came to speak with you. I do feel a bit better about the whole thing."

"Good," Seth smiled. "Like I said, it will be a struggle for a while. If you need to talk to someone, vent at someone, have someone to throw things at, whatever, you feel free to come to me, okay?" He knew for a fact that Bayley had other friends in the locker room, particularly Sasha Banks and Charlotte, but still, she was his partner now and he wanted to feel like she could rely on him as such. That had been one of the best things about Shield; having two brothers on the road with him.

"Thanks. I appreciate that," Bayley said, meaning it sincerely. "So what about them putting us in a relationship as well?"

"What can I say? You're a lucky woman," Seth said deadpan, deciding to try and add some humour to the conversation.

"Hmmm," Bayley replied, playing along by looking at him skeptically as he took another bite out of his sandwich, dropping lettuce and mayonnaise down the front of his black shirt in the process.

"God damn it," Seth groaned at himself, looking down at the mayonnaise stain. His next bright idea was to pick up the sandwich wrapper and try to wipe his shirt with it, only succeeding in spreading the mess around even more.

Bayley was laughing at him by that point. Glancing around, she saw that someone had left some napkins on a nearby table. She got up and fetched them, then handed them to Seth, still chuckling at the mess that he'd made of his shirt. "Here, use these. And just so you know, any boyfriend of mine would at least have to know how to eat a sandwich properly."

Seth set about cleaning the mess up, glad that he had managed to pull off his little stunt without being caught faking it. Letting the salad fall out of the sandwich had served the intended purpose of giving Bayley something to laugh it. While it was true that she had some tough times to come, not least when she actually performed her turn later in the night, he had at least managed to turn her mood around for now.

They spent another few minutes talking about the match, particularly the proposed ending, then Seth made his excuses and headed for the men's room. Bayley went and got in line to get herself a sandwich, thinking that maybe, just maybe, this new direction for her career wasn't going to be as bad as she had first feared.


	2. Chapter 2

Mick Foley had opened Monday Night Raw, cutting a promo about the previous night's Summerslam pay-per-view, firstly talking about the overall success of the show before then moving on to advertise the fact that three titles were going to be defended over the course of the night on Raw. The WWE Tag Team Championships, the Raw Women's Championship and the United States Championship would all be on the line.

Mick then went back to talking about how the main event of Summerslam had ended, with Triple H's interference. Clearly annoyed at what had happened, Mick had denied any prior knowledge of Triple H's appearance and had gone on to demand an explanation from Stephanie McMahon, accusing her of undermining his position as General Manager.

In response, Stephanie's music hit, being greeted by a chorous of boos from the crowd. The Conmissioner of Monday Night Raw walked out onto the stage, with the new WWE Universal Champion by her side. Seth raised his newly acquired title belt in the air, rubbing his so-called victory in the faces of the fans.

"You _demand_ an explanation, Mick?" Stephanie asked from the stage after her music had faded out, raising her eyebrows, affronted by his choice of words. "Let's be perfectly clear on one thing; you are not in a position to demand anything from me. You work for me. So before you start making demands again, remind yourself exactly who you're talking to.

"However, since you and all of these 'people' seem to need the obvious explained you, I'll indulge you. What you witnessed last night was my husband, who unfortunately isn't here tonight, make sure that we got the result that was best for business in the main event. You see, for some time now Monday Night Raw has been lacking what it needed most, and that is The Authority. Last night, we reformed The Authority." She paused and put her arm around the shoulders of Rollins, who reciprocated the gesture. "We brought Seth Rollins back into the fold, and with him we brought the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. And I'm here to tell you..."

"That's the WWE Universal Championship," Mick clarified, unable to prevent himself from laughing at her mistake as he pointed at the title belt that Seth had over his right shoulder. The crowd joined in, laughing and jeering at Stephanie for her legitimate slip up.

"What I was trying to say," she snapped at them all, rolling with it and staying in character, "Is that I can tell you now that Seth Rollins will not be the only champion to join The Authority. Tonight, we will add another champion to our team, and that is a guarantee."

"Another addition to the Authority?" Michael Cole asked on commentary. "Who is it going to be? Could it be the United States Champion, Rusev? He's taking on Roman Reigns tonight in our main event."

"I think you could well be right," Byron Saxton said. "You have to believe that Stephanie McMahon, and Seth Rollins for that matter, would love nothing more than to keep the United States title away from Roman Reigns."

"What if Stephanie wasn't referring to the main event?" Corey Graves wondered. "What if she's decided that the Raw Women's Champion deserves a place in The Authority?"

"Charlotte will defend her title against Bayley tonight," Cole reminded the viewers. "Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me to see Charlotte sell out. It seems like just the kind of classless thing she would do."

"Stephanie could have been double bluffing us," Saxton pointed out. "She said champion, but what if she actually meant champions? We have Gallows and Anderson taking on The New Day tonight for the WWE Tag Team Championship."

In the ring, Mick Foley had another problem on his mind. "Stephanie, when you wanted a General Manager, you called me. You talked me into taking the job by telling me that I would be in charge, that I would make the matches. Yet here you are out here talking about reforming The Authority, talking about adding another champion to your ranks, and this the night after your husband interfered in the Summerslam main event. I don't think some kind of proper explanation is too much to ask, because right now I feel like I've been brought in under false pretenses."

"You haven't been brought in under false pretenses, Mick," Stephanie said, placating him now. "My father decided that Monday Night Raw needed a General Manager to take charge of the show and to make the matches. I thought you would be perfect for that job and I haven't changed my mind. I haven't come out here tonight and said that you're not in charge or that you're no longer going to be making matches, have I? In fact I'd like to congratulate on the fantastic show you've booked for tonight, three titles on the line..."

"You're trying to get cute with me now," Mick said, admonishing her with a wag of his finger. "What's the point of me making matches if you're just going to interfere in them?"

Seth had taken Stephanie's microphone and handled that one for her. "Foley, who do you think you're talking to, huh?" The crowd booed his entry into the conversation, making him pause for a moment. "You're just an employee, Mick. Stephanie is your boss, okay? You don't ask questions of her, she asks them of you."

Gesturing to the microphone, Stephanie could be heard asking if she could have it back. Seth obliged, and Stephanie addrressed Mick, much more pleasantly than Seth had done. "There's no need for us to have problems with each other, Mick. I'm not here to tread on your toes or to try and stop you doing your job. You asked me to come out here, what exactly did you want me to tell you?"

Mick considered that for a second before replying. "After hearing what you've already said, talking about another champion joining The Authority, what I want is your word that neither you, your lap dog next to you Seth Rollins, or even your husband will interfere in any of the matches that I've booked for tonight."

Stephanie looked at Seth and gave a little shrug and a dismissive facial expression that seemed to say, 'Sure, we can agree to that.' Turning back to face the ring, she said, "Okay, Mick. I already told you that Hunter isn't here tonight anyway, but you have my word that he won't interfere in a match tonight, neither will I, and neither will Seth. The Authority will add another champion to our ranks tonight, without interfering in a match. Good enough?"

"Yes," Mick decided. "Your word is good enough for me, Stephanie. The word of Seth Rollins means nothing to me, but yours I can accept. Please don't make me live to regret it."

"Don't worry, there won't be any regrets tonight," Stephanie assured him with a sly looking grin. Seth laughed in his familar cocky, annoying manner.

Stephanie's music played again and she lead Seth to the back as the commentators discussed whether Mick was right to take Stephanie at her word. The consensus seemed to be that there was something suspicious about the whole thing.

* * *

With WWE's booking often being predictable in the extreme, almost everyone assumed that whatever the drama was going to be with The Authority, it was going to happen in the main event match between Rusev and Roman Reigns.

For that reason it was a surprise when Stephanie and Seth walked down the ramp during the women's match between Bayley and Charlotte, which was at that moment being dominated by the current champion. Attention wasn't drawn to the new arrivals until they were already at ringside. They walked around to far side of the ring, where the commentary table used to be, and Stephanie started ordering Charlotte's protege Dana Brooke to head back to the locker room, telling her, "I've got this."

"Stephanie McMahon is out here now, along with the new WWE Universal Champion, Seth Rollins," Cole announced. "Stephanie is sending Dana Brooke back to the locker room."

"It looks like Stephanie is going to take it from here," Graves said. "We've been speculating all night on who is going to join The Authority and it looks like we know now. Charlotte and Seth Rollins are quite a pair, you have to admit."

"But Stephanie promised Mick Foley that there would be no interference in matches tonight," Saxton objected.

"Have you seen any interference?" Graves snapped at him. "Seth and Stephanie are standing at ringside. They've not done anything at all to interfere in the match."

Charlotte executed a textbook vertical suplex on Bayley, which Stephanie applauded. It had taken until then for Charlotte to notice that she now had a very important audience of two. With a look of something between satisfaction and surprise, she looked at Seth and Stephanie for a moment before smiling.

"Carry on, you're doing great," Seth called out, adding some applause of his own.

Charlotte returned her attention to her opponent, but she had taken her eye off the ball and left Bayley an opening.

"Bayley's back on her feet, and oh, delivers a big DDT to Charlotte," Cole called out.

Bayley weakly hooked Charlotte's leg, but it was only good for a short two count.

"The Authority inadvertantly distracted the woman they've come to help," Saxton said with some amusement.

Not making the same mistake, the still groggy Bayley got back to her feet, waiting for Charlotte to do the same. When Charlotte did make it back up, Bayley grabbed her in a waist lock, the setup for her finishing move.

"Bayley-to-Belly!" Cole yelled as the crowd erupted. "She hit it!"

"But she can't capitalise," Saxton said, seeing that both women were now lying flat on their backs in the middle of the ring.

Bayley eventually began to show signs of life, rolling over onto her front and then slowly crawling towards Charlotte. "Can Bayley make a cover?" Cole asked. Seemingly using up all the energy that she had left, Bayley managed to drape an arm over Charlotte's chest. "Yes!"

"One!"

"Two!"

The crowd groaned in disappointment as Charlotte got her shoulder up at the last possible moment. Stephanie and Seth were shown looking nervously at each other.

"Look at Stephanie," Graves said. "I think she and Seth nearly just had heart attacks."

Back up much more quickly this time, Bayley took a long look at the two people at ringside before picking picking up Charlotte's leg, the first part of applying a familiar submission hold.

"That's the Figure Four," Cole said. "Figure Four applied to Charlotte. Bayley's got her own move on her."

Almost as soon as the hold was locked in, Stephanie was shown walking over to the timekeeper's position, frantically gesturing for him to ring the bell. When the bell sounded, the fans cheered loudly, overjoyed that their favourite had seemingly won the title.

"Wait a minute," Cole said, sensing that something strange was going on.

Bayley's music started to play, causing the crowd to cher again, although it wasn't quite as loud this time as people began to catch on.

JoJo's announcement came next. "As a result of a submission, your winner, and _new_ Raw Women's Champion, Bayley!"

The word new had drawn another cheer, but it was quiter still. "Wait a minute," Cole repeated again.

In the ring, Bayley had gotten to her feet, raising a hand in celebration while getting her breath back. Seth Rollins had grabbed the title belt that now belonged to her from the timekeeper and rolled into the ring with it. By now, most of the fans had caught on to what might be happening, much as they didn't want to believe it.

Seth approached Bayley, title belt in hand. When he reached her, she gave him a theatrical hug. The crowd howled their displeasure. "Wow," was all Graves could say. "We're seeing something really big right here."

"I am shocked," Saxton said. "Bayley has joined The Authority." The way he said it made it sound more like a question than a statement of fact.

"And now she's kissing Rollins," Cole groaned in abject disgust. "What the hell are we seeing here? Don't tell me Bayley and Seth are together?" Given that Seth and Bayley were still enjoying their long, passionate kiss, the answer to that seemed obvious.

"What a hideous display," Saxton said. "Of all the people, I would never have expected this from Bayley."

The crowd watched on in near silence now, a fact that was noticed by Cole. "These fans are stunned," he said.

Stephanie climbed up the steps and into the ring, holding a microphone. Her intention was presumably to crow about what she'd just done, but Charlotte was back up now and confronted her, clearly protesting that she hadn't tapped out to the Figure Four. Noticing that Bayley's attention was now on them, Stephanie smiled condescendingly at Charlotte. "I know, Charlotte. You don't get it, right? Well get this."

On cue, Bayley ran at Charlotte and smashed her in the back of the head with the Women's Championship belt. "What's gotten into Bayley?" Saxton demanded as the new champion began to literally kick the hell out of the fallen Charlotte.

After a few moments, the crowd started cheering as someone ran down to the ring. "Here comes Finn Balor!" Cole called out. "Finn Balor was screwed by The Authority last night at Summerslam."

The Irishman slid under the bottom rope, but by that time Seth, Bayley and Stephanie had bailed out of the side of the ring. As fast as they could, they ran around to the entrance ramp and then up it, heading for the backstage area. Finn helped Charlotte up, quickly told her what had happened, and they both set off in persuit.

The camera shot changed to show a hallway backstage. The trio of Authority members ran along the hallway, with Seth laughing at what they had just done to Charlotte. Bayley cheered in delight at her part in it.

"The Authority are running away like nothing more than thieves," Cole said in disgust. "And they're actually pleased with themselves."

Finn and Charlotte were shown next, running along the same hallway. The camera followed them all the way into the parking garage. A huge black limo was there, it's back door open, ready and waiting to complete the getaway. Also waiting was Triple H.

"There's Triple H," Saxton said. "So much for not being here tonight. More lies from Stephanie McMahon, saying that her husband wasn't here, after promising not to interfere in any matches tonight. What a joke that all was."

"Only it's not funny," Cole said.

Triple H ushered his wife and thier two new recruits into the limo, then climbed in after them, slamming the door closed just as Finn and Charlotte approached. With a squeal of its tires and a roar from its engine, the limo raced up the ramp, out of the parking garage. Finn had gotten close enough to slam his fist down on the trunk, but that was all the satisfaction he was going to get.

"I didn't tap out," Charlotte told him breathlessly.

"Of course you didn't," Finn replied, shaking his head. "They stole your title just like they stole the Universal Championship from me last night."

With that the shot changed to show the commentary table, where Michael Cole was shaking his head. "I can't believe what we've just seen here. We've got a new Raw Women's Champion in Bayley."

"And it only happened because Bayley has apparently sold her soul to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon," Saxton added. "Bayley, who was one of the most liked and respected women in the locker room, has sold her soul for the Raw Women's Championship. I guess we saw her true colours here tonight."

"I think there's more to it than that," Graves said. "You saw how Bayley celebrated with Seth Rollins. You don't share a kiss like that with a colleague, gentlemen. I think Seth and Bayley are together."

"We all want answers," Cole said. "But it seems we're going to have to wait until next week to get them because The Authority just tore out of here like they'd just robbed a bank."

Saxton sent the show to commercial by saying, "Coming up next, we've got Cesaro taking on Sheamus."


	3. Chapter 3

Hunter had informed Seth and Bayley ahead of time that the limo would speed out of the arena's parking garage on live TV, before making a quick drive around the block so that they could return to the building off-screen. Raw was still on the air, with most of the final hour still to run, and both Hunter and Stephanie still had work to do. Despite the short length of the journey, sitting in the limo was proving to be an awkward experience for Seth. Almost as soon as they had gotten into the limo, Bayley had burst into tears. She was sitting opposite Seth, beside Hunter, with her newly acquired title belt on her lap. The tears that she was crying were not happy tears though, that was more than obvious.

"It's going to be okay," Hunter said, trying to comfort her. He had already put an arm around her shoulders, which Stephanie didn't seem to mind. If Seth had to make a judgement by looking at her, he would have said that Stephanie was feeling as awkward as he was. It was hardly the usual thing for someone to be upset to the point of crying just after having a title put on them, but then these were not usual circumstances.

"I saw kids crying when we ran up the ramp," Bayley spluttered through her tears. "What am I supposed to do when I'm out there next week?"

"Make the people who used to love you, hate you," Hunter said. There was no way to sugar coat it, and no point in trying to do so. "Remember what we talked about earlier?"

"I know," Bayley mumbled.

Seth saw that Stephanie had produced a tissue from somewhere and was holding it out towards Bayley. "Here, Bayley," she said. "Dry your eyes. We're not going to have a problem with this, are we?"

"No we're not," Hunter replied, about halfway to snapping at his wife for her lack of sensitivity. "She just needs a bit of time to come to terms with it, that's all. We threw all this at her tonight and then had her do it without much time to even think it all through." Giving Bayley's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, he asked her, "You'll be okay with it by next week and ready to go out there in your new character, right?"

Bayley felt so embarrassed to be crying in front of the other three people in the back of the limo, especially Seth and Stephanie, who she didn't know anything like as well as she knew Hunter. Sensing the awkwardness around her only made things worse, but she just hadn't been able to hold the tears back. Seeing children who were wearing Bayley merchandise crying at what she had done had just been way too much to handle. Some people would consider letting that kind of thing get to her to be weird or pathetic, she knew that, but she had always been an emotional person. Severing her special bond with the fans so suddenly was a very traumatic experience. What Hunter had said was exactly right; it was all just so sudden. If there had been a week or two to prepare, she knew it wouldn't have been as bad. What she absolutely had to do was use the next seven days to accept the reality that she was supposed to be the top heel of the women's roster now, not the top face. Hatred was what she gad to try and generate now, rather than adoration. It was a big adjustment to make.

At least Hunter had informed her that she had the week off from working house shows. Her character had to remain unseen until the next Raw show, when she would appear in her new identity. She was required to travel to a studio to film her new entrance video on Friday, but that still left a few days for actual, precious vacation time. Those few days off meant the chance to go home and see her family, which would of course help a lot. The only other thing she had to do for work during the week, Hunter had told her, was buy herself a wardrobe of clothes that was suitable for a member of The Authority. Business suits, blouses, dresses, jewelry, the full works. The tassels, brightly coloured shirts, headbands and even the side ponytail were all now things of the past. That was the old Bayley, and the reality was that whether she liked it or not, the old Bayley was already gone.

"I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to start crying," she said, gratefully using Stephanie's tissue to dry her eyes. "It just hurts so much that the kids will be so upset at what I've done."

"It's alright," Seth said reassuringly. "There's only the three of us here, there's nothing to be sorry for. I might not even tell everyone about it when we get back to the arena," he added, remembering how humour had helped earlier in the night.

"Don't even think about it," Bayley told him, managing a smile.

By the time the limo pulled back into the parking garage, Bayley had her emotions under control. Hunter climbed out first and held the door for the other three. "Are you sure you're okay?" Stephanie asked as she followed Bayley out of the vehicle, keeping her voice reasonably low in case anyone might be within earshot. Further embarrassing Bayley wasn't what she wanted to do. Fortunately, there was no one else in the parking garage.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Bayley said, feeling embarrassed again despite Stephanie's effort to avoid it. What if Stephanie decided to go and tell her father that he'd made the wrong call on this storyline and Bayley wasn't going to cut it? That would be awful. Difficult though it undoubtedly would be, she told herself that she had to avoid any further crying over this storyline, especially in front of the bosses. Like Hunter had told her before Raw, she had to own the heel turn if she wanted to make it a success rather than a flop. "It's just been a lot to take in tonight, that's all. I'll be good to go next week, don't worry."

"I don't doubt it," Stephanie said. If anything, the way she said seemed a little too kind, like maybe the opposite of what she'd said was actually closer to the truth.

While the two women had that brief exchange, Hunter had taken the opportunity to have a quiet word in Seth's ear. "Make sure she's okay." It was somewhere between an order and a request.

Seth just nodded to confirm that he would do exactly that. With a few more parting words, Hunter and Stephanie walked away to get back to their work. Seth saw Bayley let out a deep breath as she watched them leave, a sign of relief that he totally understood. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, trying to sound compassionate. "You don't have to pretend now, they've gone."

Bayley turned and looked at him, then started to walk slowly towards the hallway that they had all ran down just minutes earlier live on Raw. "Thanks Seth, but I'm okay now," she assured him. "It really was just a lot to deal with tonight, you know?"

"It really was," Seth sympathised. "Hitting you out of the blue with it and then having you do the turn the same night wasn't really on, but that's Vince sometimes. Then having to ride in a limo with Hunter and Steph right after as well? Not cool."

"I've had better experiences," Bayley admitted.

Seth noticed the humour in it and smiled. "Hunter gets it anyway, so you'll be fine. Stephanie maybe not so much, but she's never done the job that we do, not really."

They entered the hallway and Bayley raised the Raw Women's Championship belt so that she could study it up close for the first time. Charlotte's name was still on it of course. Shaking her head at the craziness of the night's events, she said, "It's insane to think that I'll be leaving this here tonight so that they can take it and put my name on it."

Only eighteen months or so earlier, Seth had been in the same situation after becoming the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania. "You never forget your first," he said, thinking back to pinning Roman at Wrestlemania 31, causing the crowd to go wild in celebration despite his heel persona. "Try and enjoy it as much as you can."

As they walked, Bayley's thoughts drifted from her new title to another aspect of the storyline. Just one more thing that Vince and his creative team had thrown at her. Not only was she the champion, not only was she now a heel, not only was she a member of the despised Authority team, she was also the on-screen girlfriend of Seth Rollins. It was still not totally clear to her why that addition had been deemed necessary, but if she had to guess she would have said that it was a way to try and get heat on her more quickly. Seth certainly had plenty of it to go around. From that point of view it actually made sense, she realised.

As far as off-screen was concerned, it was common practice for people to travel with their on-screen partners as much as possible. Presumably whoever had instituted that unwritten rule had been applying the logic that the better you knew someone, the better you could perform with them. Although she didn't know Seth all that well yet, Bayley was willing and happy to travel with him. "I guess we should be thinking about traveling together now then," she ventured, unsure what the reaction was going to be.

Seth's first instinct was to make a joke about wanting her to be more enthusiastic about it, but it wasn't the right time to be needling his new partner. From what he had seen so far in the night, it seemed that she was a sensitive person and the last thing he wanted to do was upset her. "I'm up for that if you are," he replied easily. "Fair warning though, you'll have to do your share of the driving."

"Okay. If we're going to split the driving then we can split the cost of the gas and the cost of food too."

"Alright, deal," Seth said. The new arrangement left him with the job of telling Roman that he would have to look for a new travelling partner, but he knew that his best friend would be fine with it. After all, everyone knew the unwritten rule about traveling with your partner if you were given one to work with. And in any case, who wouldn't prefer to travel with a hot chick given the chance? Not Seth, that was for sure. And in his mind there was no doubt that Bayley was hot, maybe not in the strictest definition of the word - she was no supermodel - but she was cute, that was the best word to describe her. Naturally, as a WWE star she also had a fantastic body. Seth preferred a woman like that - what he called a real woman - than some stick thin thing with plastic tits and no brain. Given the fact that he had always liked a smartly dressed woman, he imagined that Bayley would really look great at Raw next week when she was in her new character. There were worse roles that he could have been given than the top heel on the roster, the Universal Champion, and Bayley's boyfriend, that was for damn sure.

"I'm not going to be around until next Monday though," Bayley was saying. "No house shows for me this week, so that my character isn't seen. I've got a couple of days to spend at home, then I've got to go film my new entrance video."

"Time off," Seth said, as if he was contemplating one of the ancient wonders of the world. "I'm not jealous at all, just so you know."

They were now approaching the women's locker room. "Well, this is me," Bayley said, stopping outside the door and turning to Seth. "Listen Seth, I want to thank you for being supportive tonight. You didn't have to say some of things you did to help me try and deal with this, and I really do appreciate it."

"You got it," Seth nodded. "I'll see you next Monday then, right?"

"See you then," Bayley smiled, then turned and walked into the locker room. Her two closest friends on the roster, Charlotte and Sasha were in there when she entered. Hugs were exchanged and heartfelt congratulations passed on.

"Quite a night for you, girl," Sasha said, deliberately understating it. "I never thought I'd see them try a heel turn with you."

"Neither did I," Bayley said frankly, putting her title belt down on the bench then sitting down beside it.

Sasha knew that it must have been a bitter pill for her friend to have to swallow, so she sat down beside her and looked her in the eye. "You're okay with it though, right?"

"I will be," Bayley promised her. "I cried in front of Hunter and Stephanie a few minutes ago, in the back of the limo. I just couldn't help it. I've got to move on and accept it though, because there's no turning back. I'm a heel now."

Seeing that she was putting a brave face on things, Charlotte decided to offer some input of her own. "Honestly, being a heel is a lot of fun though. Once you get used to the idea and you're out there doing it, you'll absolutely love it, trust me. And I know you can pull it off too, I don't doubt that for a second."

"Thanks," Bayley smiled, appreciating the vote of confidence. "And yeah, Seth told me pretty much the same thing earlier about playing a heel being a lot of fun. It's just a matter of getting used to the idea myself, you know? I wish Vince had given me a couple of weeks notice or something before I had to actually do it. It was just, 'Hey Bayley, you're the champion and you're a heel, good luck.' It's just, well, crazy to be honest. Not to mention the fact that they put Seth and I in a relationship too."

"I can think of worse things to have to do," Charlotte grinned. "You certainly didn't no-sell that kiss after the match. Damn, girl."

Bayley immediately blushed, something else that she couldn't help. "What can I say? It's my job to act like I'm with him."

Eyeing her suspiciously, Sasha said, "Right, and that's why you've gone as red as that title belt you've got over there. Admit it, you think Seth's hot."

Admitting defeat, Bayley burst out laughing. "Okay, Seth's hot. Happy now?"

"Rumor has it that he's single too," Charlotte said, still pushing Bayley's buttons.

"Really?" Sasha asked, turning to look at the former champion. "We'll have to let him know that she's interested then, won't we?"

"You wouldn't," Bayley said, laughing hysterically now, mostly out of embarrassment.

"We would, but we could maybe be bribed not to," Charlotte decided.

"I'll give you anything you want," Bayley giggled. She knew that her friends were only teasing her, but even so, the thought of one of them telling Seth that she found him attractive was cringe worthy beyond description. The last thing she needed right at the start of their storyline was Seth to catch on to how she felt, and then feel awkward about working with her because of it.

* * *

While the banter had been going on in the women's locker room, Seth had made his way back to the one that he was sharing with Roman. "That went well," was Roman's greeting when his friend walked in. He was dressed in his ring gear and ready for action, only minutes away from facing Rusev in Raw's main event.

"Yeah, really well," Seth agreed. "The heel turn was tough on Bayley, unsurprisingly, but she'll be okay. I think Vince could really be onto something with this idea."

"She certainly didn't hold back when it came to kissing your ugly ass," Roman chuckled.

"What can I say," Seth shrugged theatrically. "Chicks love it. It's just something that I've had to get used to over the years."

Roman laughed heartily and shook his head at his friend. "You're a fucking idiot, you know that?"

Seth took off the T-shirt that he'd worn to the ring, balled it up in his hand and threw it at Roman before sitting down on a steel chair. "You're jealous, bro."

Roman had caught the shirt, and he threw it right back at Seth. "Of you? Not a chance."

"Yeah right," Seth pretended to scoff as he caught the shirt himself. "Go on then, tell me you wouldn't want to work this angle with Bayley? I can think of worse ways to make a living."

"It's a storyline, dick head," Roman reminded him. "If it wasn't, there's no chance Bayley would go near you. None. Anyway, I've got to get out there for my match. I better not find you jacking off in here when I get back. It's the only action you're likely to get after all."

"Thanks man, appreciate that," Seth chuckled as his friend left the room.

As he set about changing and packing up his things, getting ready to leave, Seth realised that he couldn't actually stop thinking about Bayley and the kiss that they had shared in the ring. Was it wrong that he had liked it so much, that he had enjoyed the taste of her? Was it a bad thing that he felt attracted to her? All this after just one kiss, which would inevitably be the first of many. However, contrary to the bravado that he'd shown to Roman, he seriously doubted that Bayley would have any interest in him. For one thing he didn't even know if she was single. In fact he didn't even know if she was straight. "Get a grip, asshole," he told himself. "The last thing you want to do is make this awkward. As if she's actually going to be interested. You're working with her and that's all."


	4. Chapter 4

Sasha Banks nearly had to do a double take when she walked into her locker for the first time, having just arrived at the arena for Raw, making the call time by a matter of minutes. "God damn!" she exclaimed, looking Bayley up and down. Her friend was standing in front of a mirror, making some finishing touches to her outfit. The brightly coloured ring attire that had always been a key part of her previous character could hardly have been further away from the perfectly tailored black business suit and white blouse that she was now wearing, and the look was completed by a pair of black high heel shoes and a very expensive looking silver watch. She was also wearing her down, the side ponytail now being a thing of the past. "I kind of knew what to expect, but I'm still stunned. You look amazing, girl."

Turning to look at her friend, Bayley managed a thin smile. "Do you mean that, or are you just saying it? Because I feel like the most awkward person in the world right now. This is literally the first time in my life I've ever worn a suit. I knew I should have just gone with a dress. Steph always looks good in a dress. I decided to change early just so I have a bit of time to get used to it before the show."

Sasha wheeled her case over the corner on the room and then turned to face Bayley again, looking the outfit over for a second time. "No, you really do look great. I wouldn't have ever thought that wearing a suit would be a good look for you, but it really is. It's perfect for your new character. Perfect," she repeated, stretching out the first syllable. "I know it's a big change from what you're used to, but you'll get used to it. Come on, give me an in character pose. I know you filmed your new entrance video the other day, so you must have it down by now."

"Alright," Bayley said, then allowed her expression to change so that she was looking at Sasha like she was something unpleasant that she had just accidentally stepped in on the sidewalk, while standing with one hand on her hip.

"Awesome," Sasha said, unable to stop herself giggling. "If I wasn't already the Boss, I'd be tempted to say that you were. This new Bayley is badass. I love it."

"At least one of us does," Bayley sighed. Although she very much appreciated the kind words, the whole heel persona still just didn't sit right, yet. At least she was now able to think of it in terms of yet rather than wondering if it ever would. "I'm used to the idea of playing this role now, but I can't say I'm looking forward it. Maybe I will enjoy it in time. Who knows?"

"Oh, you will," Sasha assured her. "Remember what we told you last week? Playing a heel is a lot of fun. How did it go with the filming anyway? What are your new music and video like?"

Bayley had to admit to herself that she did like her new entrance package. While it wasn't exactly the kind of thing that she had expected Hunter to come up with for her (she assumed it had been his idea), it was very fitting for a heel, that was for sure. As with everything else, getting used to it was the current stumbling block. She hoped that once tonight's Raw was over and she had her first heel appearance behind her, things would start to go a lot smoother. "I like it," she told her friend as she turned back to the mirror. "I'm not going to spoil it though, you'll have to wait until later. Apparently I'm opening the show, by myself too, at least to start with."

"Really?" Sasha asked with raised eyebrows. Vince and his team were certainly throwing a lot at Bayley. While it was a lot for her to deal with, it was definitely a double edged sword. The negatives were the heel turn and the amount of pressure and expectation that were being heaped onto her along with it, but to counter those things was the fact that the company obviously saw Bayley as something really big for women's wrestling. Rightly so, Sasha knew. If the new character took off, it wouldn't just be good news for Bayley. The whole women's division would benefit from it, as they had during Charlotte's heel run which had just been brought to an end. Any successful and popular face character needed a good heel to work with, that was just fundamental. Noticing that Bayley had left a copy of her script on the bench next to her title belt, Sasha walked over and picked it up.

"It's not a bad segment, honestly," Bayley said, able to see what Sasha was doing in the mirror.

"It does look good," Sasha said studiously as she started to read over the details.

A few moments went by in silence, Bayley fiddling with her suit jacket and Sasha reading the script. "Well, I'm going to go find Seth," Bayley announced after one final check over her outfit. "We're going to be travelling together starting tomorrow."

"And I bet you've been looking forward to that," Sasha said, looking up from the script with a suggestive grin on her face.

"Don't start that again," Bayley said, hurrying towards the door before she had the chance to blush.

* * *

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Seth asked with a very concerned look on his face. "I know it's a big loss to come to terms with."

"I think I'll manage," Roman Reigns replied dryly, not diverting his attention from unpacking his case.

Seth was lounging on the bench that ran along one wall of their locker room, with his back propped up against the wall in the corner and his feet up on the bench. He had a suit to change into for Raw's opening segment, but he was in no rush to do so. "You don't have to put a brave front on it, man. If you need to cry or whatever, go ahead and let it out. You'll feel better afterwards."

Despite not wanting to give Seth the satisfaction, Roman had to chuckle at his stupidity. As he turned to look at his friend, he pretended to cry. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Seth's not going to travel with me anymore. I thought he was my friend."

"That's more like what I expected," Seth said, doing his best not to smile. "Don't worry dude, I still love you. I just don't have to ride in a car with your ass. I traded you in for a much better looking, much nicer person."

"Yeah, I did the same," Roman said. "I'm traveling with Sheamus from now on."

"Oh, you swing that way?" Seth quipped back without any hesitation. "Well if that's your thing, it's your thing. I'm not here to judge."

Returning his attention to unpacking his case, Roman asked, "Really? That's where you're going to go with this? I think we both know there's only one of us who wants to bang the person we're travelling with, and you haven't even started travelling with her yet."

"I don't want to bang Bayley," Seth objected strongly. "I never said that."

Roman burst out laughing at his defensiveness. While he was laughing, someone knocked on their locker room door. "Make yourself useful and get that," Roman told Seth.

"Yes, sir. Anything else I can do for you, sir?" Seth griped as he got up and walked over to the door. When he opened the door and saw Bayley there, greeting him with a nervous looking smile, he hoped that his initial reaction didn't show on his face. 'Holy fucking shit' were there words that came to mind. In the past he had always thought of Bayley as kind of cute in a way that he couldn't really explain, but seeing her dressed and made up the way she was now changed his opinion immediately. The word cute didn't do her any kind of justice at all, she was fully hot.

"Hey, Seth," Bayley said pleasantly. "I wondered if you wanted to go get something to eat or something so we can talk over the script?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Seth said, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him as soon as he faltered, feeling sure that Bayley would know exactly why it had happened. He wasn't sure if it was deliberate or a coincidence, but Roman stuck his head around the door at exactly the right time to get him out of jail.

"Hey Bayley, I hear you're taking this guy off my hands?"

"If you don't mind?" Bayley asked, unsure if Roman would think that she was intruding on their friendship, even though travelling with her partner was more of a company requirement than something that she had initiated.

Roman responded by shoving Seth out of the door. "Do I mind? Take him. Keep him. Don't try and return him."

All three of them laughed, then Roman closed the door. After he had done so, Roman shook his head and smiled to himself. Banter aside, he knew that Seth wasn't a particularly confidant or experienced guy when it came to women. If he had been, as Roman was, he would have easily recognised the signs that Bayley liked him too. The exchange at the door and then the way that the two of them had looked at each other while they had been laughing reminded Roman of a couple of college kids going out for their first date. It was cute, honestly. Deciding that it would be best to stop teasing Seth about it from now on, he went back to sorting out his gear.

* * *

"He doesn't mind though, does he?" Bayley had asked Seth after Roman closed the door and they had starting walking towards catering.

"No, it's all good. He'll find someone else to travel with," Seth assured her. He then gestured to her outfit. "I barely recognised you in this. Talk about a change of image."

"What do you think?" Bayley asked, a little self-consciously. "I've literally never worn a suit before. Well, apart from when I filmed my new entrance video on Friday, but that was just a green screen thing in a studio."

"I think you look great," Seth said before he could catch himself and take a half-second to think of some other way to phrase it.

"Thank you," Bayley replied shyly.

When Seth glanced at her to see how she had reacted to his unfortunate choice of words, he saw her cheeks reddening. Inwardly, he raged at himself for embarrassing her. As if she didn't have enough on her mind with the change in character and being asked to open Raw, here he was making stupid comments. At least he had the sense not to try and correct himself by telling her that hadn't been what he meant, thereby causing her to think that he didn't think she looked great, when in fact he did. What a frustrating mess this was already becoming. Instead, he decided to change the subject. "So how did Friday go?"

"Really good. To be honest, they surprised me with the kind of thing they wanted to shoot. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. They gave me a copy of it on my phone when we were done, if you want to check it out?"

"Go for it," Seth said, genuinely interested to see what they'd put together for her.

They stopped walking and Bayley pulled her phone out of her pocket. It took her a moment to load up the video. When she was ready, Seth leaned over her shoulder so that he could see the screen as she held the phone in the palm of her hand. "It starts with the lights going out in the arena," she told him as it began to play. Seth was surprised to hear slow organ music as what looked like footage shot from a helicopter began to play, carrying the camera and therefore the audience across the bright and beautiful lights of a city at night. The organ notes began to build up, along with the sound of rushing wind as the scenery began to flash by faster and faster. At the crescendo, the shot ended up on top of a huge skyscraper, focusing on a figure of a woman wearing a business suit who was looking down on the city, and therefore also looking down on everyone in it. As the shot zoomed in on the woman, she looked up and into camera with an arrogant smile on her face, revealing that it was Bayley. At that point the main part of the entrance video began, comprising various shots of Bayley dressed in her suit along with other shots of her name up in lights over the city. Seth knew that it could easily soon be edited to include footage from matches that she wrestled as a heel. Slow paced, ominous sounding guitar riffs backed by a thumping bass drum provided the soundtrack.

"That's sick," Seth enthused. "I absolutely love that. Tell me you like it? You have to like that?"

"I do," Bayley smiled as she put her phone away, feeling his enthusiasm firing her up a little, as if it was contagious. "It'll be cool to open the show tonight with it, with no one obviously knowing what's going on during the intro."

They had both been so engrossed in watching the video clip that they hadn't noticed Charlotte walk past them, and had therefore also missed the fact that she had smiled at seeing the way they were interacting. The on-screen pairing of Seth and Bayley hadn't really gotten started yet, but there were already people starting to root for them off-screen.

* * *

Sasha was using the mirror in the locker room to put her contact lenses in when Charlotte walked in with a rather peculiar smile on her face. "What are you smiling about?"

"I just saw Bayley and Seth in the hallway. They were watching something on her phone and I don't know, there was just something about the way he was leaning in and looking over her shoulder. They looked so cute. We know she likes him, you saw how she blushed last week when we teased her about it. I think maybe he likes her too. I can't watch you put those things in your eyes by the way, it freaks me out."

Ignoring the final comment, Sasha considered what Charlotte had said about Seth and Bayley. In the several years that she had been friends with Bayley, she couldn't remember her ever mentioning being in a serious relationship with anyone. They had talked about guys that they had slept with, but Bayley had always been a little nervous around the subject. Sasha had the impression that while she might have slept with a few guys, she had never been in love with anyone. It seemed obvious that she was attracted to Seth, so if he did also happen to be attracted to her too then maybe something could actually happen between them. While teasing Bayley about it and making her blush the week before had been funny, the truth was that Sasha wanted nothing but happiness for her friend. If there was a real chance that something could happen with Seth, Bayley didn't need to be made to feel awkward about it around her friends.

"Do you think we should maybe lay off her about it?" Charlotte asked, confirming that she had been thinking along very similar lines.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that too. You know how shy she can get sometimes. If there was anything between her and Seth, I'd hate it if she ended up in two minds about it because she was worrying that we would tease her for it. I can definitely see her thinking that way too."

"You're right," Charlotte said. "We'll not mention it unless she does then, and no teasing. You really should have seen them though, Sasha. They looked so sweet together."

"Sounds like Vince screwed up to me," Sasha thought aloud. "He should have kept Bayley's gimmick, turned Seth face and then put them together that way. That shit would have been a gold mine."

"It really would," Charlotte said, picturing the old Bayley hugging Seth in the ring. "It's a bit late now though."

* * *

Meanwhile in catering, the conversation over a light lunch between Seth had Bayley had been strictly about the upcoming show. Neither one of them felt comfortable in asking any kind of personal question in an attempt to get to know the other better. Frustrated by his own lack of confidence and wanting to give himself a minute to think and to hopefully find some courage, Seth left the table to go fetch himself another cup of coffee that he really didn't need or want. The most frustrating part was knowing that if Roman was in this situation, he would have been charming Bayley from minute one and she would probably have loved every second of it. It just came naturally to some guys, but he wasn't one of them. Further adding to his awkwardness was the fact that he had seen Bayley blushing in the hallway earlier when he had complimented her on how she looked. Did that mean that she was attracted to him, or had he just embarrassed her? He didn't know, and he didn't know how to go about finding out without making an asshole of himself.

Think of something that she might like that you share in common, apart from wrestling, he told himself. But what might that be? Certainly not his taste in music, which ranged from the 60's to the 80's and most definitely did not include anything recent. How many people his age had tastes like? Hardly any, he thought, so talking about music was out. As far as hobbies were concerned, aside from binge watching TV series on Netflix whenever the time do so presented itself, he liked to play video games. Then it hit him, he knew that Bayley liked video games too. He remembered liking a picture that she had put on Twitter of herself playing one of the old wrestling games on the N64. Feeling much happier to have something to talk about, he headed back to the table, carrying his unwanted cup of coffee.

"I wonder how long it's going to take before people start trying to make the heel Bayley character on 2K16?" he asked when he approached the table, referring to WWE's latest offering for gamers.

"I hadn't thought of that," Bayley said, eyes lighting up as he retook his seat opposite her, much to Seth's delight, but then her expression changed. "You know what they're like with the rosters on those games though. It's going to be hugger Bayley on 2K17. They never change characters this close to release date. That sucks. My first appearance on a game and it's going to be as the wrong character."

"Well yeah, but you can often download ones that people have created that are better than the ones 2K make anyway. I spent hours modding my PC copy. I put people like AJ Styles into it who aren't even in the game, and I've got his entrance video and music on there too. I did the same with you, Charlotte, Sasha, everyone else they missed out last year pretty much."

"You can do that on PC?" Bayley asked. "That's awesome! I'd love to be able to do stuff like that. You can't do it on the PS4."

"No, consoles suck for modding," Seth said. "If you got a PC, I could show you how to do it all. It's really quite easy when you know how."

The conversation would have bored most people to tears within minutes, but before either Seth or Bayley knew it, more than three quarters of an hour had gone by, the entirety of it spent talking about video games past and present. Bayley couldn't have been happier to discover that she had something so cool in common with her new on-screen partner. Even more importantly than that, the ice had been broken between them. She could see that Seth felt more at ease talking to her now and she felt the same way about him. "You know, I think I'm going to enjoy being on the road with you, Seth," she told him with a warm smile.

"Me too," Seth smiled back, then quickly clarified, "I mean I'll enjoy being on the road with you."

"I know what you meant," Bayley giggled.

For the past few minutes Sasha and Charlotte had been watching Seth and Bayley from across the room, whilst trying not to make it obvious that they were doing so. "I totally see what you mean," Sasha smiled, hiding it by taking a sip of her coffee. "They really are the cutest, and look how happy she is, even with all this heel turn stuff on her mind. I ship it. I ship it hard."


	5. Chapter 5

After a short pyro display opened Raw, Michael Cole welcomed the viewers to the show and introduced his two colleagues on commentary. The lights then went out in the arena, causing some of the fans to cheer instinctively. Bayley's new entrance package, with its long intro, played on the big screen in the arena, and was displayed full screen for those watching at home. Some particularly astute fans figured out who was about to make an appearance as the organ notes reverberated around the arena, but most fans watched on in confusion until the reveal of Bayley in the video, which coincided with her music starting to play.

"It's... Is that... Bayley?" Cole asked in confusion over the loud reaction from the crowd, which comprised both cheers and boos. The new Raw Women's Champion walked out onto the stage, title belt over her shoulder, looking resplendent in her expensive attire. She stopped at the top of the ramp, looking around the arena with the kind of expression on her face that might have been understandable if the place was full to the rafters with particularly foul smelling excrement.

"Oh, it's Bayley alright," Graves said proudly, now instructed by Vince McMahon to take on the role of an all-out heel commentator. "She's the chosen one, Michael," he added.

"You got that right," Saxton scoffed as Bayley began her slow, arrogant walk down the entrance ramp towards the ring. Her swagger seemed to fit in perfectly with her new entrance music. "The only reason Bayley is the Raw Women's Champion is because Stephanie McMahon decided that she would be. Bayley was literally selected to be the champion, after doing nothing to earn it. We all know that Charlotte didn't tap out to that Figure Four last week. I have no love lost for Charlotte, but it was a disgrace how she was treated on that exchange. I hope Mick Foley is prepared to do something about it tonight."

Keeping his attention on the present, Cole said, "Look at how Bayley is sauntering to the ring, and look at how she's dressed. This isn't the same Bayley we all knew and loved, that's for sure."

"No it's not," Graves said, his grin obvious in his voice. "This is a new Bayley, and I can't wait to hear what she has to say to us."

"Maybe she'll tell us why she sold the fans and everyone else who ever supported her up the river just to get her hands on the Raw Women's Championship?" Saxton asked, clearly taking the betrayal somewhat personally. "I was always a big fan of Bayley, and now this? She should be ashamed of herself for even considering selling out to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon."

Bayley had reached the ring now, and climbed up the steps and through the ropes as JoJo made her announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new Raw Women's Champion, Bayley!" The cheers were almost non existent now; a loud chorus of boos greeted the announcement.

"Don't forget Seth Rollins in all of this," Cole reminded his colleagues as well as the audience. "After the disgraceful ending to the women's title match last week, we saw Bayley celebrating with Rollins in a way that definitely wasn't professional."

"You're right, Michael," Saxton said. "There's been great speculation this week that Seth Rollins and Bayley might be in a relationship."

"Would you shut up?" Graves asked in annoyance. "The champ is ready to speak."

Bayley's music faded out, being replaced by more boos, which she reacted to by looking around at the fans as if their mere presence was offensive to her. A young girl was shown on the screen, wearing all of the old Bayley gear. Her eyes were full of tears which she was doing her best to hold back. Then another child was shown, this one a young boy wearing a purple 'I'm A Hugger' shirt. He was holding up a sign with only one word on it, each letter coloured in with the kind of bright colours that used to be so easy to associate with Bayley. "That little guy wants to know the same thing I do," Saxton said. "Why? Why did Bayley sell out?"

"Shut up and you might find out," Graves snapped at him.

Eventually the crowd settled down enough for Bayley to speak. Raising her microphone to her mouth, she allowed herself to smile, much like the old Bayley. "Now that I've got the Raw Women's Championship, who wants me to take this suit jacket off, go back there and kick Stephanie McMahon's ass?" The crowd roared enthusiastically at that suggestion, in the vain hope that the Bayley they loved was still in there somewhere, but Bayley shook her head and returned to sneering at the fans. "That's not going to happen. What, do you think I'm supposed to do what you want just because you cheer for me? Do you really think that's how the real world works? Let me guess, I'm supposed to keep coming out here week after week dressed in ridiculous looking ring attire? What about wearing a stupid side ponytail? Am I supposed to continue to do that? And of course we're all supposed to love each other, aren't we? We all like those hugs, right? Well let me tell you something: This isn't kindergarten, this isn't NXT, this is Monday Night Raw. Coming out here and pandering to you people week after week wasn't going to get me anywhere, not like it did on NXT. I acted the way I did with you people because it was good for my career, that's all it ever was."

"Just like I thought," Saxton said over another volley of boos. "Bayley sold out to get ahead, plain and simple."

"What none of you knew," Bayley continued, "Is that for the last six months, I've been dating Seth Rollins. Aside from being the best looking guy on the roster, and aside from being the best wrestler on the roster, Seth is the smartest guy on the roster too. Dating someone as smart as Seth taught me a lot about this business and made me realise just how naive I was back in my NXT days. I thought that having the fans on my side was the way to go, but Seth soon helped me to understand how wrong I was. Being a fan favourite is really just a waste of time. You people are good for nothing."

The fans booed loudly again at that, but it only made Bayley smile, satisfied with the reaction. "Truth hurts doesn't it? The fact is you can boo me all you want, it makes no difference to me. The reality of the situation is that I could have gone on the way I was for weeks, probably months without even getting a fair shot at the Raw Women's Championship. Yet when I chose to sit down last week with Stephanie McMahon and make a deal with her, I was inspired to become the Raw Women's Champion the very same night."

"Inspired? Give me a break," Cole sighed. "She's saying she could have gone on for months without a getting a title shot. Mick Foley gave her a title shot last week! It seems to me that the real truth is that Bayley was afraid she wasn't going to be able to beat Charlotte, so she sold out to Stephanie and got the title handed to her instead. What a disgusting thing to do."

"Stephanie's a very inspirational person," Graves said. "I think we should wait until we have all the facts about last week before we rush to making a judgement."

"The fact that I am now the Women's Champion," Bayley said, proudly holding up the belt, "Just goes to prove that my future lies not with you people, but with my man Seth Rollins, with Triple H, with Stephanie McMahon, with The Authority!"

Yet another salvo of boos rained down, only increasing in volume when Stephanie's music began to play a moment later. She walked down to the ring, ignoring the fans and smiling proudly at her latest recruit as she she did so. After she climbed into the ring, Bayley took a few steps towards her and they exchanged a hug, drawing even more ire from the fans.

"I still find it hard to believe," Saxton said. "Bayley standing there in a suit, hugging Stephanie McMahon. Talk about adding insult to injury and rubbing it the faces of the fans."

Stephanie fetched a microphone for herself, still smiling in delight at her latest coup. "Isn't it funny," she began, only to be drowned out by more boos and abuse being hurled her way. "Isn't it funny," she repeated, almost shouting this time, which helped to quieten the crowd down a bit. "That when I came out here last week and talked about adding another champion to the ranks of The Authority, you all laughed at me. Well, you're not laughing now." The fact that what the fans had really been laughing the previous week was actually Stephanie using the wrong name for the Universal Champion was now conveniently forgotten about for the sake of taunting them. It worked, as more furious booing and angry jeering rained down.

"Although it's a shame that my husband isn't here tonight, I'm out here to celebrate," Stephanie continued when the fans settled down enough for her to do so. "Hunter and I are both so proud that The Authority now has not one but two new champions, and they also happen to be the two most talented people in WWE. However, before we can start the celebrations, I need to address some controversy that seems to have been stirred up regarding what happened last week. Why don't we go back and look at the way Bayley won the Raw Women's Championship last week on Raw? Roll the footage," she ordered the crew backstage.

The footage began to play on the big screen and Stephanie took up the job as narrator. "There you see Bayley putting Charlotte into the Figure Four. Now, what people seem to be complaining about is that at no point did Charlotte tap out, yet there you can see me ordering the timekeeper to ring the bell. The accusation I've heard is that I screwed Charlotte over, despite promising Mick Foley that neither myself or Seth Rollins would get involved in the match. Allow me to clear up the situation right here and now. It's true, Charlotte didn't tap out. You can see that on the footage as well as I can."

"She openly admits it!" Saxton said, voice rising in anger.

"However," Stephanie said, holding up a finger to silence the latest boos. "What happened was, when Bayley locked in the Figure Four, Charlotte shouted out the word tap. In fact she shouted it twice. Shouting tap is a valid form of submission. I heard it, Seth Rollins, who was standing beside me heard it, Bayley heard it, yet somehow the referee didn't. Really, if anyone should be taking flack for this, it's referee Charles Robinson for not doing his job properly."

"What a load of bull," Saxton said derisively as Bayley was shown nodding her head in agreement with Stephanie's statement. "As if anyone believes a word of this nonsense."

"I heard Charlotte say tap," Stephanie reiterated, "I saw that Robinson for some reason wasn't calling for the bell, so I decided that I had to do it myself, to protect Charlotte from injury as much as anything else."

Before she could go on, Seth Rollins music hit. Both women in the ring smiled as they turned to face the entrance ramp. Stephanie also began to applaud the arrival of the second of her two stars. "Here comes the architect," Graves said. "Not just the architect of The Shield either, Seth Rollins is the architect of Bayley, his girlfriend, joining The Authority. We're looking at a new era in WWE right here with these two amazing champions."

"Please stop," Cole said. "Listening to Bayley and Stephanie was bad enough."

As he climbed into the ring, Seth knew that the next few moments were going to feel awkward for him. What he had to do was exchange a passionate kiss with Bayley, much like they had done after the match the previous week. The difficulty was going to be that he had to act like he was very much enjoying the kiss in character, without giving Bayley the impression that he was enjoying it just as much out of character too, even though he would be. Finding your on-screen romantic interest incredibly attractive certainly wasn't an easy position to be in.

Bayley took a couple of steps towards him and smiled just before he leaned down to kiss her. There was a sparkle in her eyes that seriously made him wonder if she had just been thinking the same kind of thing that he had. Their lips met and Seth felt a strange sensation in his stomach. Tingling was the only way he could have described it, had he been required to do so. He had felt something similar in the past with other women, but definitely not as strong as this. It was then that the realisation of just how attracted he was to Bayley really hit him. It only got worse when she let out a very brief moan of satisfaction that Seth felt against his lips as much heard. It was so brief and stifled that he could tell she had tried her best to cut it off, but hadn't quite managed to do so. What did that mean?

Neither of them realised quite how long or how realistically they had kissed. It wasn't until they parted and Seth walked over to Stephanie for an in character hug, and he saw the look in her slightly widened eyes that it began to dawn on him. "Wow, you guys don't hold back," Stephanie said quietly into his ear, on the verge of laughing as they hugged.

Thrown off balance by the whole exchange, Seth did well to remain in character and deliver a two minute promo, throwing his relationship with Bayley in the fan's faces and crowing about his victory of Finn Balor at SummerSlam for the WWE Universal Championship, neglecting to mention the fact that Triple H's interference was the only reason that the match had ended in his favour. After laughing at the fans for booing his title win, he continued, "You see, when I was injured I coined the phrase redesign, rebuild, reclaim. I wasn't just referring to Seth Rollins, I was referring to The Authority. We redesigned and rebuilt The Authority by adding my beautiful girlfriend Bayley to the team, along with the Raw Women's Championship, and we reclaimed the Universal Championship in place of the WWE title, which I never lost."

Before he could go on and before The Authority could formally celebrate their two title victories, they were interrupted by Charlotte's music. "Thank God," Saxton said. "I really don't think I could have listened to any more of that."

"Charlotte was screwed out of her title last week, and judging by the look on her face she's not going to stand for it," Cole said as the former champion walked out onto the stage. Dana Brooke was conspicuous by her absence, Vince having decided to simply not have them appear together from now on, leaving Dana short of a creative angle for the moment.

"Enough!" Charlotte said angrily from the stage, glaring down at the three people in the ring. "I've been standing there in the back listening to the three of you come out here and spew your sycophantic crap and lie through your teeth for at least ten minutes now, and I can't stand it anymore!" The fans cheered that, a good sign for her prospective face turn. "Bayley, you stand there in your little suit, thinking you're something special all of a sudden. I think you look like exactly what you are: a pathetic piece of crap."

The crowd cheered again, more loudly this time as Graves said, "That's not on. I think Bayley looks beautiful tonight. Charlotte could take some advice on how to dress from our new Women's Champion." Bayley was shown objecting about the insult to Seth, who seemed to be telling her not to let Charlotte get to her.

"And Stephanie," Charlotte continued, moving on to her next target. "You come out here telling what you know are blatant lies about what happened last week. I never tapped out to Bayley, I never said that I wanted to tap to her, and I never told the referee that I quit. Bayley didn't beat me, Bayley _couldn't_ beat me. _That's_ the real reason the match went down the way it did last week."

Mick Foley's music was next to hit, to a tremendous ovation from the fans. "It's getting really interesting out here now," Cole said. "Here comes Mick Foley, the General Manager of Monday Night Raw."

"You just said some very accurate things there, Charlotte," Mick said over the top of his music, which quickly faded out as he walked out to stand beside the former champion. "First of all, you're right, Bayley does look like a piece of crap in that suit." The crowd erupted into cheering and laughter as Seth angrily climbed on the ropes closest to the entrance ramp, furiously defending his girlfriends honour, telling Foley to come down to the ring and say it again.

"Stephanie, put your little puppet back in his box for a minute will you?" Mick grinned, but then he got down to some serious business. "Now, apart from the way Bayley is dressed, there's some other important things that need to be said. Stephanie, you gave me your word last week that you wouldn't interfere in any matches I'd made. As far as I'm concerned, you broke that promise with the way you ended that Women's Championship match and screwed Charlotte out of her title, which is exactly what I believe you did. To begin with I was angry and hurt by what that, but then I found myself wondering why? Why was I surprised that Stephanie McMahon proved to be a no good liar who would break her word to someone as easily as she would look at them? You've actually been that way for a long time, and the only person who couldn't see it was me. Now, I'm sure you're planning on coming back with some cute little response like, 'Mick, I didn't set foot in the ring, I didn't even touch Charlotte, so I didn't interfere in the match'. Well you can save it, because none of us need to hear any more from you.

"Now, with that all being said, I need to remind you that I am the General Manager of Monday Night Raw, which means that Authority or not, I make the matches. What I say goes, and therefore what I believe matters a great deal around here. And what I believe tonight is that we have two people in the ring who are holding championship belts that they didn't win. Therefore, Charlotte _will_ get her rematch for the Raw Women's Championship, and Finn Balor _will_ get his rematch for the WWE Universal Championship."

The crowd roared in delight and began to chant 'Yes!' as Seth and Bayley both complained vociferously to Stephanie about the injustice that they saw in the announcement.

"Those are two main event worthy matches," Foley went on, "And main event matches is exactly what they're going to be. Seth, you will put your Universal title on the line against Finn Balor next week on Raw. Bayley, you will defend your Women's title in the main event tonight, right here, in Houston, Texas."

"Pathetic cheap pop," Graves complained as the fans went wild, both at the mention of their city and the huge match-up that they were going to get to see. Charlotte was shown pointing at Bayley as she shouted something towards the ring, clearly telling her that she better enjoy her one night on Raw with the belt.

"But a great main event," Cole added. "We're going to see a Women's Championship match main event Monday Night Raw later tonight when Charlotte takes on Bayley. I can't wait to see that."

Foley still wasn't done. "Stephanie, I can already see by the 'how do we get out of this one' look on your face that you're trying to think of a way to cheat Charlotte out of the title again. It's not going to happen. I'm going to make sure of it personally, because I'll be watching very carefully from the back and if I see any interference from anyone on Bayley's behalf, I'll come right out here and strip her of the title on the spot, and I'll award it to Charlotte. That goes for your match next week too, Seth. The two of you will win those titles fairly and prove that you deserve them, or you will lose them, it's just that simple. Have a nice day!"

Mick's music played and he chivalrously gestured for Charlotte to leave the stage before him, which she did, glaring back at Bayley all the way to the curtain.

"What an announcement by Mick Foley!" Cole called out. "We're going to see Charlotte get her rematch for the Raw Women's Championship tonight, and there will be no outside interference. Anyone who has doubts about Bayley's ability to beat Charlotte will get their answer tonight, one way or another."

"Look at Bayley complaining to Stephanie," Graves said. "I agree with her too. This whole thing really isn't fair, Foley coming out here on some kind of power trip like that."

"How exactly is a one on one match with no interference unfair?" Saxton wanted to know. "Yeah, it's a real travesty that the corporate sellout that is Bayley is going to have to fight Charlotte fairly. She can cry me a river."

"Bayley meets Charlotte in our main event tonight for the Raw Women's Championship," Cole repeated, ending the segment.

* * *

After the commercial break, the three members of The Authority were shown in Stephanie's office. Seth and Bayley were standing either side of Stephanie, simultaneously complaining to her about what Mick Foley had done and the alleged unfairness of the matches that he'd made. "Stop!" Stephanie screeched, raising both hands in the air in utter frustration. "I know that you're both angry about Foley. I am too, but you're making my head spin and I'm trying to think."

"Well what are we going to do about him?" Seth demanded. "Being angry is one thing, Steph. We need to actually do something about him. You appointed him."

That little barb was step too far. Stephanie turned to Seth and glared at him, eyes almost piercing into his soul. Her voice took on the familiar, slightly quieter, menacing tone that she often used when she was angry with someone. "Yes, I appointed him. I was made to appoint a General Manager by my father, and I figured it was best to appoint an idiot like Mick Foley rather than someone who could have been a threat to us."

"Seems like he's a threat to us from where I'm standing," Bayley griped.

Stephanie turned to her attention to Bayley, with an equally withering expression on her face. "So it would seem," she hissed slowly, before a devilish smile spread across her face. "Don't worry though, I have an idea," she assured both of her team members. "I need to speak to Hunter about it, but I think it's safe to say that next week, we'll deal with the problem that is Mick Foley."

* * *

"The crowd are chanting that they think this match is awesome, and I have to agree with them," Cole said. Bayley and Charlotte had been battling away for almost fifteen minutes in Raw's main event. Both women had taken some serious punishment, but there was still no indication as to who might emerge victorious.

"I'd just like to point out that Seth Rollins has been at ringside the entire match and he hasn't interfered once," Graves said, sucking up, as was already becoming the norm.

"Of course he hasn't," Saxton said. "If Rollins gets involved, Mick Foley is going to strip Bayley of the title."

"Charlotte in control of Bayley now following the swinging neck breaker," Cole said, focusing on calling the action. Bayley crawled over to the corner of the ring, intending to use the ropes to pull herself back up to her feet, with Charlotte using those precious few seconds to catch her breath. When Bayley staggered out of the corner, Charlotte made to hit the ropes, intending to gain momentum and take her opponent's head off with her Big Boot signature move. Seth was on the side of the ring that Charlotte chose to head towards. Seeing what she was going to do, he quickly moved over to where she was about to hit the ropes. Seeing this and fearing that Seth was about to attack her in some way, Charlotte stopped short of the ropes and yelled at him to back off.

"I didn't do anything," Seth said, holding his hands up above his head to protest his innocence.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Bayley ran over and lunged at the back of Charlotte's left knee. "Oh, come on now," Cole objected. "Rollins distracted Charlotte and Bayley took advantage with a chop block. Bayley rolls Charlotte into a cover. One! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!"

"Three!" Graves called out in delight. "She got her! Bayley wins!"

"She had both her feet on the ropes!" Saxton objected furiously as the crowd booed the controversial finish. "How did the referee not see that?"

Bayley had rolled out of the ring under the bottom rope as soon as she got the three count, escaping as quickly as she could, smiling and raising her hand in triumph as soon as she had her feet on the floor. Seth had grabbed the Women's Championship belt from the time keeper and they ran away as fast as they could, heading up the entrance ramp while Charlotte protested vehemently to the referee that she had been cheated, demonstrating what Bayley had done to pin her.

"This is pathetic," Saxton complained as Bayley and Seth hugged each other in celebration after reaching the stage. "Two weeks in a row, Bayley has stolen the Raw Women's Championship from Charlotte, this week thanks to Seth Rollins."

"Rollins didn't do anything," Graves shot back. "He didn't lay a finger on Charlotte, he didn't even climb up on the apron, so don't start throwing stupid accusations around. Charlotte took her eye of the ball and ended up dropping it. There's no way you can say there was interference in that match."

"Oh, please," Cole said. "Rollins distracted Charlotte, allowing Bayley to come from behind and pin her, using the ropes for unfair leverage in the process. The Authority has nothing to be proud of here."

Bayley was shown in close-up, kissing Seth before turning back to face the ring, offering Charlotte a snide little grin and a wink as she held the title belt up in celebration. "Yes they do," Graves said. "That woman right there is what they can be proud of. Bayley is still the Raw Women's Champion."

* * *

Bayley saw that Hunter was waiting for them when they walked back through the curtain, with a proud smile on his face. Seeing the smile told her that as much as she had hated most of her night's work, he had enjoyed it. The actual match with Charlotte had been okay - wrestling was something that she could never fail to enjoy - but she had hated almost every second of the show's opening promo segment. Talking down to the fans that she loved so much just felt wrong on so many levels, and seeing their reactions to their years of loyal support being thrown back in their faces had cut into her like a knife. Summoning all of the inner resolve she had, she told herself not to let on to the boss how upset she was by the whole thing. She had vowed not to do that again after crying in the limo the week before. As awful as playing a heel was, it was better than being cast into obscurity by Vince McMahon, which was what she expected to happen if she didn't make a success of this, her first run on the main roster.

"Give us a minute," Hunter said to Seth as they walked over to him. His tone was pleasant, but there was no mistaking the fact that it was an order rather than a request.

"Sure," Seth said and walked far enough away to be out of earshot. He would have just gone and taken his shower, but he and Bayley hadn't swapped phone numbers as yet. Assuming that they would be riding back to the hotel together, he wanted to make arrangements to meet up with her somewhere before leaving the arena.

"How do you think it went tonight?" was Hunter's opening question to Bayley.

"Well, people booed me," she replied, trying to sound like she thought of it as a positive thing.

"Yeah, they did," Hunter nodded. "I was very happy and impressed with how you handled the opening segment, not that I doubted you. You've found the voice for your new character very quickly and you drew yourself some heat, so good job. Vince was impressed too, but he wants more from you next week."

"More?" Bayley asked, annoyed by how timid it sounded when it came out. Hunter had to have noticed that she wasn't looking forward to what was coming next, but he showed no sign of it in his reply.

"Yes. Vince has made it clear tonight that he doesn't just want this to be a heel turn, Bayley. You were one of our most popular stars. Your turn is a big, big deal, and we need to make sure we convey it as such. This needs to be bigger than Rollins turning on the Shield. We need it to be the Cena turn that never happened. We need it to be the Hogan turn way back when. We need you to go from one extreme to the other with the fans. We need you to become the most hated person on the roster, bar none. You need more heat than either Steph or myself."

"Okay," Bayley said. Inside, she was repeatedly telling herself not to let the tears come, repeating it like some kind of mantra. 'Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.' Somehow it was working. "How do I do that?" she asked Hunter.

"We'll come up with something for you for next week's show," Hunter promised. "But there's more to it than that. If you want to be truly hated you need to do something that neither me or Steph can do because of our positions in the company. You need to live your character, just like you used to before. I'm talking about when you're out in public, when you bump into fans at the airport, when you're on social media, the whole nine yards. If it's not behind closed doors, you're in character. Can you do that for me?"

Bayley felt like her legs were going to give way underneath her. Either that or she was going to spew up right there in front of the boss. How had things gotten so awful so quickly?

Hunter must have seen that she was struggling with the idea because he offered some more words to encourage her. "This is big, Bayley, like I said. We're talking about you becoming one of our very top names for a long time to come. That's how good you are, and that's how much we believe in you, how much _I_ believe in you. Your potential in this business is virtually limitless."

"Thank you, Hunter. Alright, I'll do it," Bayley managed to say, given that there was no other option, at least not an option that didn't effectively involve telling McMahon to stick the job up his ass.

"Great," Hunter beamed. "You're okay though, right? You can tell me if you're not, and we can look at going a different way with this thing."

'If you were the one in overall control of the company, that might have been true,' Bayley thought. She knew that Hunter wasn't trying to deceive her. Far from it, in fact. He was doing his best to be supportive of her, as he always had since day one, but she was smart enough to know what Vince was like. People he perceived as weak or people that he took a disliking to were finished, regardless of what advice Hunter or anyone else tried to give him to the contrary. She wasn't going to allow herself to fall into that trap and waste the years of hard work that had gotten her this far in her career. That would be even worse than having to play a heel.

"I'm alright," she told Hunter, managing to force a smile. "Still getting used to it all, but I'm okay."

"Okay, I'll let you go," Hunter said. Before turning to leave, he gestured to the title belt that she had over her shoulder and offered another smile. "It looks good on you."

"Thanks," Bayley said, then walked over to Seth. At that moment she wished that he wasn't there. She wished that no one was there, because she wanted to be alone, completely alone so that she could cry her eyes out without anyone around to ask any questions.

"I thought we could ride back to the hotel together when we're ready to leave," Seth smiled when she walked up to him.

"Oh, you've got a hotel here?" Bayley asked, taken by surprise. "I always travel right after the show and stay in the next town. I don't have a room here for tonight."

Cursing himself for not thinking to clarify that with her the week before when they had agreed to travel together, Seth rolled with it. "Okay, no worries. I don't mind travelling tonight. We can go to your hotel and I'll get myself a room there."

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

Seth found it so adorable when timidness crept into her voice like that, although he didn't want her to feel timid around him. "Not a problem," he assured her. "I'll tell you what, let's make a deal. I'll travel tonight and get another room, you do the driving."

"Deal," Bayley said, smiling now that she felt a little better about it. "I'm going to go get my shower then. I'll come by your locker room when I'm done, okay?"

"Okay," Seth nodded. Watching her walk away, he could tell that she had been trying to put a brave front on the fact that the heel turn was still hurting her a lot. His hope was that he would be able to take her mind off it once they left the arena. Then there was the kiss and the way that it had made him feel, not to mention the fact that it had seemed like Bayley had been enjoying it every bit as much as he had. Could he possibly find the courage to mention the kiss to her? And even if he could find the courage, should he mention it?


	6. Chapter 6

By the time Bayley pulled their car into the parking lot at the hotel, Seth was just glad that the journey was over. What little conversation he had managed to have with his new partner had been stunted and awkward. Bayley's mind was on other things, that much had been obvious, and Seth was fairly certain what the problem was. It was nothing that he had done, he was certain of that. The heel turn weighing on her had to be the issue, but he had been reluctant to talk about it because the vibes that she had been giving off were that she wanted the exact opposite of a conversation about it. He could have counted the amount of times that she had taken her eyes off the road to look at him during the fifty mile drive on one hand, which had told him all he needed to know. If he had known her for a bit longer and if they were more familiar with each other, he might have just decided to push ahead and try to get her to open up to him, but he was afraid that if he tried that she would be left thinking that he was an asshole who didn't know how to mind his own business.

They got out of the car and both walked around to the trunk to get their cases. As Seth lifted Bayley's case out of the trunk and set it down on the ground for her, he managed to make eye contact and offer the kind of smile that he hoped would convey the message that he didn't hold the lack of conversation against her, and that he was there if she decided that she did want someone to open up to. The wrestling business could be a lonely one, especially if you tried to keep all of your feelings inside, he knew that from his own past experiences.

"I'm sorry," Bayley sighed, looking down at the ground rather than maintaining the eye contact. Seeing the kindness in his eyes as much as in his smile made her feel guilty for pretty much ignoring him during the drive to the hotel. It wasn't Seth's fault that Vince and Hunter had asked her to do something that she was finding difficult. It wasn't Seth's fault that Hunter had given her the news that it was only going to get worse from here on out, either. The prospect of treating fans like crap at any given opportunity was the polar opposite of how she believed fans should be treated, and the polar opposite of how she wanted to act too. While it was true that she had permission from the bosses to be a bitch to people, she simply didn't _want_ to do it. That was going to be the biggest stumbling block of this whole heel turn; the simple fact was that she didn't want to be a heel. The role had been given to her, and she had to do it. As simple as that sounded, it was much easier said than done. All she had really wanted to do the whole time they had been in the car was pull over and burst into tears. "I didn't mean to seem ignorant, Seth. Just a lot going through my mind right now, you know?"

"I get it," Seth assured her. "Remember the first time we talked about this? The whole thing with The Shield? I've been where you are, although I admit that you have the kids especially upset by your turn. That must be real tough."

Bayley wanted to tell him about Vince's request - not that it really was a request at all - for her to take on her character outside of the ring too, but she knew for sure that she wouldn't be able to stop herself breaking down if she started talking about it. That would have to wait until she got into her room and called home. Talking to her mom or dad would give her the chance to let it all out, which would hopefully do her some good. "Can we just go check in?" she asked, not responding directly to what Seth had said. "I just want to crawl into bed to be honest."

Seth closed the car's trunk and lead the way towards the hotel's entrance, wheeling his case along behind him. He badly wanted to help Bayley, but again there was the problem that this was their first time travelling together. They barely knew each other. Why would she want to bare her soul to him of all people? "My advice is to talk to someone," he decided to say. "I don't mean me necessarily, although I'm happy to talk if you like. If not me though, please call someone else. Just don't let it all build up inside, because doing that can get real bad, real fast."

A large part of Bayley wanted to ask him to get a drink with her in the hotel's bar so that she could just tell him exactly how she felt, tears and all. Every time she had spoken to him he had seemed like such a genuinely nice guy. But another part of her pictured the scene with her crying her eyes out and him sitting there with a 'What the fuck have I gotten myself into here?' look on his face. That wasn't how she wanted him to think of her, so no, she wouldn't take up his offer of a friendly ear, not tonight. "Thank you for being supportive," she said, smiling as he turned to look back at her. "I really appreciate it, but I just want to get to bed and put this night behind me."

Not wanting to push her on it, Seth let the subject slide. They reached the revolving doors at the hotel's entrance and he stood aside to let her go in before him.

"Thanks," Bayley said, smiling at him again and for some reason feeling her cheeks reddening. She was lost as to exactly why she was she blushing at such a simple thing as that.

In the bright lights of the lobby, Seth saw the blush appearing on her cheeks. As he saw it, he felt that strange sensation in his stomach again, the one he had felt when kissing her in the ring earlier in the night. 'I really have it bad for this girl,' he told himself, trying to take in and process the realisation.

They approached the reception desk and Bayley soon obtained a key for her single room in the name of Martinez. "Can I help you, sir?" the tall man working the desk asked Seth after finishing serving Bayley.

"Can I get a single room please?"

"I'm sorry, sir," the man, whose name tag bore the name Adam replied, with a sorrowful shake of his head. "We have no unreserved rooms left for tonight."

'Fucking perfect,' Seth thought. Now he was stuck without a room, this late at night. He was too tired to be spending another hour driving around looking for somewhere with rooms available. It was stress that he simply didn't need. "Help a guy out," he tried, knowing it was almost certain to be in vain. "My partner has a room here, and thanks to a travel mix up, I need to stay in town tonight too. Is there nothing you can do to help us out?"

"Sorry, sir. If there was a room I could give you, I would be happy to. Sadly, there isn't."

Feeling the frustration building inside of him, Seth looked at Bayley. She gestured with her head for him to join her away from the reception desk. They wheeled their cases a few feet away. Seth shook his head in frustration. "I'm going to have to go look for..."

"No, Seth," Bayley cut him off. "We've traveled enough tonight. It's late. I'm sure there's a couch or something in my room. You're welcome to crash on it."

"No, I can't do that," he replied on instinct. "I don't want to impose myself on you when..."

Bayley stopped him by placing a finger over his lips. "Shhhh. You're not imposing; I offered. I'd feel awful if I sent you out there looking for somewhere else to stay. Hell, you might not even find anywhere. If this place is full, maybe the others are too. Besides, that's my hire car out there," she grinned.

"Are you really sure about this?" Seth asked, wanting to be one hundred per-cent certain that she was comfortable with it before he agreed. The kiss was somewhere at the back of his mind again at that moment, and he had the thought that maybe she was thinking about doing more than sleeping. That would almost certainly be a mistake if it happened, so he had to be cautious for both their of their sakes, knowing that her emotional state was far from ideal thanks to how upset she was about the heel turn.

"I'm sure," Bayley said definitively. "Even if there's not a couch in the room, there will be spare bedding that you can throw on the floor."

"I've slept in worse conditions," Seth smiled back. "Thanks, Bayley. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," she replied. There was a period of about five seconds where they just looked at each other, neither of them knowing how close the other was coming to initiating a kiss, despite what Seth had only just told himself moments before about being cautious. The moment passed and they made their way to the elevators.

As they rode the elevator car up to the third floor, part of Bayley was demanding to know why she had invited Seth to sleep in her room when she hardly knew him. The answer was simple: she didn't want to be alone, not on this night. Talking to someone on the phone was one thing, but she would have still been left in an empty hotel room with nothing but her thoughts - thoughts that she didn't want to be left alone with.

Ordinarily she would probably have called Sasha or Charlotte and ended up sleeping in one of their rooms, but tonight it just felt right somehow to have Seth around her, for reasons that she couldn't even explain to herself. She wondered if the reason he hadn't said anything in the elevator was because he was having fresh doubts about the arrangement too, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him. If he did change his mind and left now, she knew it would hit her harder that it really should have done.

"Three twenty," she said, reading the number off the back of the room key card as the elevator doors slid open. A minute later, they walked into the room and to the relief of both of them, saw that there was a couch in the room, and it was a fairly large one too.

"This'll do me just fine," Seth said, wheeling his case over to the couch and sitting down with a satisfied sigh.

"I'll take the couch," Bayley said, feeling bad that she had invited him to stay in her room, yet was expecting him to sleep on the much less comfortable couch. "You can have the bed."

"No way," Seth protested, looking up at her. "You've already been kind enough to let me crash in your room, I'm not taking your bed and leaving you on the couch."

"But I'll feel bad if you sleep on here and I'm in the bed," she protested back.

Seth wondered if this was going to somehow end up with a suggestion of them sharing the bed, which in his mind would bring them a step closer to making the mistake of sleeping together. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind to prevent that from happening. "Flip a coin then."

"What?" Bayley chuckled.

"Flip a coin. Winner gets the bed. In fact I'll flip, you can call."

"Alright," Bayley giggled. "I call heads."

Seth took a coin out of his jeans pocket and flicked it in the air, amused by the absurdity of the situation as he watched it spinning. The coin landed on the carpet. Leaning forward, Seth saw that it was a tail. Deciding that the best thing he could do was make light of the fact that he was now not only going to be sleeping in Bayley's room, but also stealing the luxury of her double bed, he stood up after picking up the coin, jogged over to the bed and threw himself on top of it. "It's a fair victory," he said, smiling broadly at her. The smile that he got in return made him feel warm inside.

* * *

Bayley had fully expected not to to be able to sleep, whether she was on the couch or not. After chatting for a while, she and Seth had settled down for the night nearly two hours before, yet she was lucky if she had slept for half an hour of that time. The couch was uncomfortable, the blanket that she was sleeping under was too thick for the temperature of the room, but worst of all was the fact that she couldn't stop crying. During what little sleep she had managed to get, she had dreamed of herself surrounded by crying children who were demanding to know why she had turned her back on them. Then, in the unrealistic way that dreams could change in an instant, the children had become angry with her and started attacking her, managing to pull her to the ground before mercilessly punching and kicking her as they shouted at her that she deserved it for what she'd done.

After jolting awake out of the night terror, she had just lain there and cried, clutching the blanket tightly to her chest in an instinctive gesture, hoping that it would give her some kind of comfort or protection. This was only the first night of her heel run too; much worse was inevitably going to come. There hadn't even been the opportunity to call her family with Seth in the room with her, not that she blamed him for that in any way. Feeling so sad, so alone, she needed someone to be there for her in that moment so badly that it hurt. Wriggling out from under the blanket, she wondered if she could possibly go ahead with what she was considering doing. Yes, she decided, she had to do it. She needed somewhere comfortable to sleep, but most of all she needed someone there to comfort her. She didn't necessarily need to talk, she just needed someone to be there. Even that would make her feel like someone else was sharing her pain, maybe even taking some of it away.

Walking across the room as quietly as she could, she listened to the sound of Seth breathing loudly, not quite snoring, but not far from it. Reaching the bed, she gently pulled the cover back and climbed into the bed as gingerly as she could, doing her best not to disturb him. Pleasingly, when she lowered her head to the pillow, Seth hadn't stirred, lying with his back to her, his breathing also remaining unchanged. Gently, she slipped her arm around his waist, then closed her eyes, knowing somehow that holding him would allow her to sleep. It almost felt like she was a kid again and he was her favourite cuddly toy. The comforting effects were very similar.

Seth had no idea what had woken him when his eyes opened. For the first few seconds he couldn't even remember where he was, but then it came back to him, along with the realisation that there was an arm around him, a hand resting on his stomach over the top of his T-shirt. Bayley was in bed with him. She had gotten in without waking him, or at least attempted to. Had she just gotten into bed with just now? Was that what had woken him? He turned over and saw that she was awake, and that her cheeks and eyes were wet with tears. She had been lying awake on the couch, crying because she was so upset about the heel turn, he realised. Seeing her tears hurt him more than he expected it to. All he knew was that he wanted to do whatever he could to make them go away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," she said, barely above a whisper. "I just didn't want to be alone." She could already see in his eyes that she didn't have to be fearful of his reaction, there was nothing but warmth in them.

"It's okay," he told her, just as quietly, before reaching forward slightly to deliver a gentle kiss to her forehead as he matched her gesture by wrapping his arm around her.

Bayley knew that he meant more than one thing with those two words, the kiss, and the fact that he was willing to hold her. He was telling her that she was going to be able to go through the traumatic changes in her career, with his support, if she wanted it. He was also saying that he was comfortable with the fact that she had climbed into bed with him, and that he was willing to be there for her when she needed him. Whatever that meant for the future, right now it meant that she wasn't alone.

No more words needed to be said. Seth just held Bayley, knowing that it was all she needed from, until he could tell by her breathing that she had drifted off to sleep. "Where do we go from here?" he whispered to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Bayley had spent a lot longer in the shower than she usually did, using the time under the powerful jets of hot water to think as well as to try and relax. She knew what was going to happen as soon as she came out of the bathroom. Seth, having already taken his own shower, was going to want to talk about what had happened the previous night, to talk about them, whatever 'they' were at this point. That was the main thing that they needed to figure out, she knew that, but actually talking about it was going to be a very awkward thing for her to do, given her lack of experience in relationships. All she knew was that she was attracted to him, and that when she had woken up beside him in bed this morning it had just felt right in a way that she would struggle to put into words.

Sitting on the couch in the hotel room, after folding up the bedding that Bayley had used on there and moving it out of the way, Seth had similar thoughts going through his mind. Getting into bed with a woman at the first hint of an opportunity definitely wasn't his style, but then he hadn't been the one who had gotten into bed with Bayley. She had come to him, wanting his comfort, wanting him to hold her, to be there in her time of need. What did that mean? When he added that to the fact that he had seen her blush around him more than once, he got the distinct impression that she was attracted to him, as he was very much attracted to her. But how could he put that into words and talk to her about it? That was the real stumbling block. Finding the right words to say in that kind of situation just didn't come naturally to him like it did to some people. The biggest fear he had was that he might somehow make a fool of himself, either that or end up saying something that embarrassed Bayley. When he heard the bathroom door open, he decided that there was nothing else for it, he was going to have be honest and tell her that he sucked when it came to talking about this kind of thing, but at the same time try and tell her how he felt about her. If nothing else, at least he would be being honest. Girls respected that kind of thing, didn't they?

Forcing herself to get past the bout of nerves that attacked her as she walked out of the bathroom, Bayley managed to look Seth in the eye and say, "I think we should, uh, can we talk?"

"Yeah, I think we should," Seth said, giving her a smile that he hoped was reassuring as he moved over to leave half of the couch free for her to sit down beside him.

"I really hope you don't mind that I got into bed with you last night?" she began as she walked over and took the empty space. "I just, I don't know, I didn't want to be alone. This whole heel turn thing is just too much right thing, especially now they want me to take on the character outside of the ring too. God, Seth, I'm dreading it so much."

Seth didn't bother asking her if she'd thought about turning the idea down, knowing perfectly well what the score was in regard to that kind of thing. Career suicide wasn't something that he was going to encourage. No, tough as it was, Bayley had to get used to the idea of playing WWE's top heel, which was obviously where this whole thing was heading in the long term. Right now though, WWE's creative plans were not what he wanted to talk about. "Bayley, I'm uh, I suck at talking about things like this," he managed to say, sounding every bit as awkward as he felt.

"Well that makes two of us," she replied, looking down at her hands as she nervously picked at one of her finger nails.

"I didn't mind you getting into bed with me," Seth tried. "Honestly, I'm glad that you felt you could come to me. I'll can tell how much you're struggling with this heel turn thing, so I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Why?" Bayley asked softly, still without looking at him.

Inexperienced or not, Seth knew the reason that she'd asked that question. This was where he was supposed to tell her that he liked her, but what if he was reading it all wrong somehow? What if he told her that he had feelings for her and she freaked out? But that didn't make sense, did it? Why would she have been acting the way she had if she didn't feel something for him too? Sitting there second guessing himself and then second guessing the second guess meant that he left a longer silence than he should have. Bayley looked up, and he saw in her eyes the confirmation that she wanted him to say that he felt something for her. "Because it hurts me to see you upset," he admitted honestly. "I don't know if that's weird? We hardly know each other, but, how can I put it? I feel like there's something between us, like we've connected somehow."

'Nice job, asshole,' he silently raged at himself. 'Could you have sounded any more like a stupid prick if you'd tried?'

Contrary to how little he thought of what he'd said, Bayley was both relieved and happy to hear him try and explain what he felt, even though he had sounded uncomfortable doing so. She could hardly blame him for that. What had been obvious since they had first started talking was that they were similar people in a lot of ways. She had been dreading trying to put her thoughts into words, and at least he had tried. The least she could do was try and do the same. "I feel that too," she managed to say, wondering if her hands were really shaking or if she was imagining it. "Remember when you kissed me last night, in the ring? I've never felt like that before, Seth. I've been with guys before, but I've never felt the way that kiss made me feel. It's just, I can't explain it," she finished, shaking her head in frustration.

Summoning all of the courage he was capable of, Seth took her hand, looked into her eyes and said, "I'd like to kiss you again."

Bayley found herself longing for exactly that. She didn't even want to say anything, she just wanted to kiss him, so she gripped his hand a little tighter and leaned forward a little, encouraging him.

Considering himself lucky that Bayley had beautiful, expressive eyes, Seth saw that she wanted the kiss as much as he did. Tenderly touching her cheek with his free hand, he leaned forward and allowed their lips to meet.

As it had in the ring on Raw, the kiss felt amazing to Bayley, and she was once more unable to prevent a small moan of pleasure escaping her.

Even as he felt himself hardening, in response to the moan as much as the kiss, Seth told himself not to try and force anything and go too far. Bayley was a shy and reserved person, as was he. Trying to take it further this earlier in whatever this thing was between them wasn't the way it should go. Whatever it was that had them feeling this way about each other so quickly, it wasn't because they wanted cheap sex with each other, that was for sure. Again, as they pulled apart slightly, there was the seemingly ever present problem of trying to put what he was thinking into words in a way that wouldn't upset or offend her. "Bayley, I, I don't want to take things too quickly here. Whatever this is between us..."

"You're right," she said, giving him another small kiss. "I don't want to rush either, but I, I want to see where this could go."

"Me too," Seth smiled, finally feeling comfortable with something that he wanted to say. "What I'd like to do is take you out for dinner tonight after the show. We could get to know each other a bit better and talk about..."

"Us," Bayley finished for him. "Is it wrong for me to say that?"

"Not from where I'm sitting," Seth said softly before leaning in for another kiss.

* * *

"Where were you this morning?" Roman asked when Seth walked into their locker room. Not bothering with a greeting was nothing out of the ordinary for them. "I called you when you weren't at breakfast to see if you wanted to hit the gym."

"I didn't stay at your hotel," Seth replied simply, having already decided to string his friend along a little before telling him what had happened with Bayley.

"Oh?" Roman raised an eyebrow. "Where were you then?"

"I traveled last night and stayed in a hotel here instead," Seth replied, deliberately sounding offhanded about it as laid his case down on the floor and opened it up.

"Traveled? You and Bayley? Wait, did you end up in her room?"

It was typical of Roman to quickly figure out what was going on, Seth thought. What he didn't want was for his friend to get the wrong idea though. In fact he wanted to have a proper conversation about the whole thing and maybe get some advice. Leaving his things in his case for now, he took a seat on the bench and looked at Roman as the conversation turned serious. "Yeah, actually I did. Dude, no fucking around, I could use the chance to talk about the whole thing with you."

"Alright man, you got it," Roman said. He had already been in the locker room for a while before Seth arrived, and had already unpacked all of his things, including two bottles of water. He tossed one of them to Seth and opened the other for himself.

"Thanks," Seth said when he caught the bottle. Although he knew that he could talk seriously and in confidence with Roman when needed, that didn't stop him from feeling awkward at the prospect of talking about his feelings for Bayley. That sense of awkwardness was something that he was starting to get used to by now. If only he could actually get used to putting what he felt into words instead, things would be so much easier.

"Come on then, what happened?" Roman prompted him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to go call Dean and start running my mouth as soon as we're done here. Seriously, just tell me about it."

"Okay, from the beginning then," Seth said, taking a deep breath. "I'd arranged to travel with her, starting last night, as you know. After her match, I asked her if she wanted to ride back to the hotel together, thinking she would be booked into the same one that we were, but it turned out that she's one of the 'travel right after the show' crew. So I said I was fine with traveling right after the show, I could just get a room at the hotel she was booked in."

"And when you got there, they had no rooms?" Roman guessed.

"Got it in one," Seth said, taking the top off his bottle of water. After taking a healthy drink, he went on with his story. "I was pissed off as you can imagine, thinking that I was going to have to go hunting around other hotels for a room, but then Bayley offered me to stay on the couch in her room. We went up there and I said something about how the couch would do nicely, then she told me she wanted me to have the bed and she would go on the couch. She said it would've made her feel guilty if she invited me to stay in her room and they made me sleep on the couch. I didn't want it to end up with us both in the bed in case something happened. She'd been upset about the heel turn and, well, it just wouldn't have been a good idea for a whole bunch of reasons if we'd ended up sleeping with each other, so I told her I'd flip a coin to decide who got the bed."

"Good idea not to potentially rush into something you both would've regretted," Roman nodded, glad that his friend had thought carefully about how to handle the complicated situation. "I don't know Bayley well, but you can tell she's not that kind of girl."

"She's not. She's such a sweet, kind-hearted person," Seth said. Roman noticed that his voice drifted slightly as he spoke, a sure sign of the real feeling behind the words. "That's why it was so hard to see her crying. All I wanted to do was make her feel like it was going to be okay, that I was there for her, you know?"

"Wait, back up a bit. You jumped from tossing a coin for the bed to Bayley crying. What happened there?"

"We chatted for a bit after we got in the room, then we settled down to sleep. It was late. I think I must have drifted off quickly. I'm not sure how long I'd slept for when she woke me up. She climbed into bed with me and put her arm around me. I turned around and saw that she had been crying her eyes out on the couch. It was horrible, man. I really hated seeing her like that."

"So what did you do?" Roman asked delicately, hoping that Seth hadn't tried something, or even slept with Bayley. That wouldn't have been good, not in those circumstances.

"I just told her it was going to be okay, then I held her until she fell asleep. Go on then," Seth sighed, "You can have a good laugh at me now."

"I'm not going to laughed at you," Roman promised his friend. "Look, I've seen how Bayley looks at you, and I've seen the two of you talking. She really likes you. It's pretty obvious you really like her. She's seems like a great girl, so I'm pulling for you. I think you did exactly the right thing last night, and I'm sure she appreciated it."

Seth watched Roman down some of his water while he thought that through. It was obvious to other people that he and Bayley had feelings for each other, yet they were struggling to talk to each other about it. Maybe Roman could help? "What do I say to her? How do I get across that I really feel something strong for her, even though I don't even know her very well? I mean, does it even make sense for us to feel something so soon?"

"The heart wants what it wants," Roman shrugged. "There's no set time period on it. If you guys like each other, good for you. How did you leave things with her this morning?"

"Before I get to that, we talked after we'd had our showers this morning and I tried to tell her how I feel. I made a bit of a mess of it, but she kind of lead me into it. She wanted me to say I find her attractive or I want to be with her, whatever. I kissed her. We kissed each other, I mean. Twice, actually. I offered to take her out to dinner tonight so that we can talk some more. Then we went and hit the gym. Sasha was in there, they got talking, so I left them to it."

Roman smiled broadly. "For someone who thinks he doesn't have a clue, you're not doing badly at all. The only advice I can give you is stop trying to think of the perfect thing to say. Say what you feel. Be yourself. Bayley likes you, not some alternate version of you that you might be able to show her. Just talk to the girl. Apart from work, what else have you talked to her about so far?"

"We had a long chat about video games in catering yesterday."

Roman facepalmed theatrically. "You went full nerd on her? Jesus Christ. Just when I thought you were doing well."

"Actually, Bayley's a nerd too," Seth took pleasure in informing him. "She enjoyed talking about games just as much as I did."

"Really?" Roman asked, raising his eyebrows. "Well then, you just gave me an idea."

* * *

 _Earlier that day_

"You kissed him already?" Sasha asked, not even trying to hide her delight. They were in the locker room at the hotel's gym, finishing up the process of changing after their workout and subsequent shower.

Blushing, Bayley added, "He's a great kisser too. I couldn't help myself making this kind of moaning sound. It was so damn embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing to let him know you enjoy kissing him," Sasha said, a huge smile on her face. "I'm sure he liked that a lot."

"Then he invited me to dinner with him after the show tonight. I said yes, but I'm so nervous about it. You know me, you know how I get. I can see me just sitting there and not saying anything in case I make myself look an idiot. I hate being shy sometimes."

"You just need to be yourself, girl," Sasha said. "I wasn't going to say anything, but Charlotte and I saw you guys talking yesterday, in catering. You both looked so happy, it really gave me the feels. And do you know why you were both so happy?"

"Why?" Bayley asked frustratedly as she checked that she had taken all of her belongings out of her locker. All of this was so complicated, and the news that other people had been watching them talk wasn't exactly welcome.

"Because you weren't worrying about what you might think of each other. You weren't worrying about what he might think about what you said. That's how you need to be with him. He likes you the way you are, Bayley. You don't have to worry about trying to force it."

Bayley knew that Sasha was right. That chat in catering had been the only time she had talked to Seth without over thinking every single thing she'd said, and the conversation had been more enjoyable as a result. What was lucky was that Seth's personality was similar to her own in a lot of ways. Her shyness wouldn't frustrate or bore him, but having said that, she still wanted to get past being shy around him. That was the only way anything could develop between them. Was it weird to already be thinking like that? She didn't even know the answer to that question.

"Sash, is it weird that I'm thinking about this maybe turning into something? A relationship I mean."

"Thinking about it? No," Sasha said, picking up her gym bag. "You ready to go?" Bayley nodded, picking up her own bag, and they left the locker room as Sasha continued answering the original question. "There's nothing wrong with thinking about it. Don't actually say anything like that to Seth yet though, that would seem strange. Too pushy, you know?"

Bayley nodded. It made sense. "So tonight I just get to know him better? What if he wants to come up to my room after dinner?"

They walked out of the gym and over to the bank of elevators. "That doesn't sound like Seth to me," Sasha said. "But if he does, you make him wait. The most he gets tonight is a kiss and a goodnight."

"I hoped you'd say that," Bayley said, relieved that her friend had confirmed what she had already been thinking. "Anything else I should do?"

One of the elevators arrived on their floor. Its doors slid open and Sasha lead the way towards it, looking back at her friend with another smile as she did so. "Yeah, you need to come with me. We're going to go buy you something to wear tonight. You're going to blow his mind."

"I hope so," Bayley replied shyly as she walked into the elevator.

"Trust me."


	8. Chapter 8

"Stunning," Sasha announced as she looked in the full length mirror in Bayley's hotel room, referring to her friend rather than herself. "You're all set, and like I said, you're going to blow his mind."

"Thanks Sash," Bayley smiled. "Thanks for everything you've done today. I would have been such a nervous wreck by now if you hadn't been with me tonight, as well as earlier."

Before they had reported to the arena for the show, Sasha had accompanied Bayley to several stores in the search for what she described as the perfect dress. While Bayley wouldn't necessarily have described the maroon off the shoulder number that they'd ended up buying as perfect, she did like it a lot. It certainly complimented her figure and revealed plenty of leg, and Seth would hopefully like that. After the show, she had traveled on to the hotel in the next town with Seth, arranging a time for their date when they parted ways. Sasha had then come to her room and helped her with her makeup, as well as giving her some last minute words of confidence. Now she was all set, ready for Seth's arrival which was only minutes away. Thanks to Sasha's help, she was actually looking forward to the date now, not dreading it, which was how she had expected to feel. 'Just be yourself,' had been the lesson of the day, and she fully intended to follow through with it. Nothing would ever happen between her and Seth if they were always too nervous to talk to each other without panicking about what the other person might think or say.

"Any time," Sasha smiled. "You won't need me next time anyway. I'm sure the two of you will get along great tonight, and you won't have these nerves again."

"I hope so," Bayley said with a smile of her own. Looking at her watch, the one part of her new on-screen wardrobe that she actually liked wearing, she saw that it was almost time for Seth to come to the room. "He's going to be here any minute."

"Time for me to get out of here then," Sasha said. Bayley offered a hug and Sasha embraced her as she said, "You'll knock him dead, girl."

"Let's hope it doesn't go that far," Bayley chuckled as she walked her friend to the door. Once Sasha was gone, Bayley walked back to the mirror to give herself a final check over.

* * *

In his room, Seth was going through a very similar process, checking that he was happy with how he looked in his light blue shirt and black suit pants. He had agonised for a while over wearing jeans instead of the pants, but had reached the decision that pants would make a better impression for a first date. He expected that Bayley would dress up to some extent too, so he didn't want to look like he hadn't made the same amount of effort. Smiling to himself, he remembered Roman's final words when they had parted ways at the arena after the show.

"Just be the usual irritating, nerdy little prick you are. Who knows, maybe she'll still like you?" Roman had said with a mischievous grin.

Oddly, laughing at that had made Seth more confident about the date, realising that he had been taking it all too seriously. He'd been thinking of it like it was a job interview or something, where he had to present the very best image of himself and make sure that everything he said sounded perfect. No, tonight didn't have to be like that at all. He was taking a woman he liked out to dinner, hoping that they would get to know each other better. How would that possibly happen if he sat there too afraid of saying the wrong thing to actually talk to her the whole night?

Satisfied with his appearance, he checked that he had his credit card, room key card and phone, then picked up the item that Roman had sent one of the crew out to buy during the show. Seth had to thank his friend for that too, certain that Bayley would love it. Starting the night off by making her smile would be perfect. "Alright, let's do it," he told himself on the way to the door.

It took him a few minutes to take the elevator up two floor and then find Bayley's room. Taking a deep breath for courage, he gave the door a firm knock, hiding his surprise behind his back with his other hand. A few seconds later, Bayley opened the door and Seth was literally stunned by what he saw. Beautiful didn't come close to doing her justice. There had been a real stunner of a woman hiding in those brightly coloured, awful looking clothes all that time. "Hi," Seth smiled. "Wow, you look incredible."

"You look great too," Bayley replied, feeling her cheeks warming up at his compliment.

They each took a step foward and Seth gave her a peck on the cheek, thinking that it was the gentlemanly thing to do. "Before we go, I brought something with me," he said, looking forward to seeing her reaction.

"You brought me something?" Bayley asked, surprise mixed with excitement.

"Kind of," Seth grinned. "It's kind of for both of us actually."

"What is it?" Bayley giggled. She just couldn't help it with the way he was grinning at her.

Loving every second of it, Seth produced a large box from behind his back. The box bore very familiar, recognisable branding. "This," he announced, smiling broadly now.

Bayley burst out laughing - happy laughter rather than mocking him. "You bought a PS4?"

"Right," Seth laughed too, Bayley's laughter proving to be contagious to him. "I figured there will be nights stuck in hotel rooms in the back end of nowhere..."

"So you want to use that time to have me teach you how to play games properly?" Bayley guessed, with the kind of smile that Seth could have looked at for hours. He already knew that it was committed to his memory. Making her this happy at the start of the date was easily worth the three hunded dollars that the console had cost him.

"Oh, it's on now," Seth replied, pretending to be annoyed by her comment. "You wait and see," he said, pointing at her theatrically. "Tomorrow night, you gonna get schooled."

"Please," Bayley sighed, over acting just as much as he had. "If we play WWE, you won't even win a match." She was genuinely touched by his thoughtfulness and the amount of money he had spent on a gift of sorts for her, and she was so pleased to see how happy and comfortable Seth seemed. Then she realised that she felt that way herself too. It was a perfect start to their evening.

"Let's leave it in your room and go down and get an Uber," Seth suggested.

"Sure," Bayley agreed, taking the PS4 from him and walking over to set it down by the side of the bed. "Thank you for buying that for us, I think it was an awesome idea," she said as she walked back over to him. Kissing him was very tempting, but no, he could wait for that, she decided.

"No worries," Seth said, knowing better than to give Roman the credit that was rightfully his. He had held the hotel room's door open while Bayley put the PS4 in the room, and he continued to do so as she walked past him and out into the hallway. After he allowed the door to swing closed, they started to walk side by side towards the elevators. Forcing his nerves aside, Seth offered his hand and was pleased when Bayley took it. Her hand was soft and warm to the touch, both of which he liked.

Bayley had to try very hard to stop herself grinning like an idiot, so happy was she to be walking hand in hand with Seth, on the way to their first date.

* * *

"I chose this place because I looked at the menu online and they seem to sell something for pretty much any taste," Seth said ten minutes later as their Uber driver pulled back into traffic, having just dropped them off outside of the restaurant that Seth had selected. "I forgot to you what you like to eat this morning, which was pretty stupid of me," he admitted.

"I'm a really fussy eater," Bayley admitted sheepishly, taking a look at the restaurant that Seth had chosen. It looked like just the kind of place she would have picked if it had been her decision. Not cheap of course, but not overly expensive and pretentious either. That kind of thing made her uncomfortable, and she imagined Seth would feel the same way. This looked like the kind of place where you could come for a nice, relaxed meal. Good food at a reasonable price. And best of all, she could see a couple sitting near the windows eating ribs. Seeing how busy the restaurant was despite the lateness of the hour told her that the food must be good. "Chinese, Thai, Indian, I can't eat anything like that."

"Neither can I," Seth said, pleasantly surprised by their similar tastes. "I mean, curry? How could you eat anything that looks like that? I don't even care how it tastes, I just couldn't have that in front of me and consider eating it."

"I've said exactly the same thing to Charlotte and Sasha!" Bayley exclaimed as Seth lead the way to the restaurants entrance. He opened the door and allowed her to walk in before him. "Thank you," she smiled as she walked past him.

Seth followed Bayley inside and they waited for a server to come over and seat them. It gave Seth the chance to look around the place, pleased that he couldn't see many people who fitted into the typical demographic for wrestling fans. That was one advantage of traveling right after the show instead of staying in the same town, he realised. "24-hour restaurants really are an excellent idea aren't they?" he asked.

"Definitely. Otherwise we'd have to live off takeout food in hotel rooms all the time."

"I don't mind a takeout from time to time though," Seth said. "A pizza or something can be a nice cheat meal."

"True. It's got to be a meaty one though. Pepperoni, ham..."

"Bacon, sausage," Seth added. "Now that we've mentioned it, I actually want a pizza now."

A young female server approached them just then, smiling tiredly. "Hi guys! Table for two?"

"Yes please," Seth smiled. "I did call ahead and book, just in case. Rollins."

There was a reservation form on the stand next to where Seth and Bayley were standing. The server quickly crossed off Seth's name and then said, "Follow me please."

As they walked across the restaurant, Bayley saw that there was an empty table either side of the one that they were going to be given. Perfect. Being surrounded by noisy people frustrated her when she was trying to talk over dinner. Somewhat softly spoken by nature, she sometimes found it difficult to make herself heard. The server set two menus on the table and smiled as they took their seats. The first thing Bayley noticed on the front of the menu was a delicious looking meaty pizza. It was meant to be.

"Can I get you any drinks?" the server asked pleasantly.

Seth politely waited for Bayley to order first. "I'll have a JD and Coke, please."

Seth rarely drank alcohol. He had never been able to stand the taste of beer. Cider was drinkable, but always left him with a headache. Deciding that he might look a bet lame ordering fruit juice, he said, "I'll have the same, please."

"With ice?"

"Yes please," Bayley said.

"Great. I'll be right back."

The server walked away as Seth picked up one of the menus and handed it to Bayley, who smiled her gratitude. "I've never tried whisky and Coke before," Seth revealed. "I rarely drink alcohol to be honest. I can't drink beer, and cider makes me ill."

"You'll like it," Bayley promised him, scanning over the menu even though she knew what she was going to suggest. "I don't drink beer either, and I've never really liked wine or champagne or that kind of thing. But JD and Coke slips down a dream and it never gives you a hangover, no matter how many you have. At least, I've never had a hangover from drinking it."

"I'll take your word for that," Seth grinned, looking over his own menu. The mention of meaty pizza was still on his mind, and there was an option on the menu for exactly what they had talked about. The Meat Feast consisted of double cheese, ham, pepperoni, bacon, sausage and spicy beef. "I've got my eye on that Meat Feast," he said, feeling his stomach rumbling even as he said it.

"I was going to suggest getting a large pizza to share," Bayley said, looking up from her menu with a smile. "The Meat Feast looks perfect to me."

"Great, let's do it," Seth smiled back, closing his menu and setting it aside. There was a moment where the just looked at each other, and it gave Seth that feeling in his stomach again, the one that kissing her always gave him.

For her part, Bayley loved the way that his smile changed slightly at moments like that. It was hard to describe, but there was just something a little shy about it that she found so adorable.

"Here we are, guys. I've got two JD and Cokes," a different, slightly older female server said, arriving with their drinks and setting them down on the table. "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes," Seth said. "Can we get a large Meat Feast pizza, please?"

"Sure. Anything else?"

"Bayley?" Seth asked.

"Not for me, thank you," Bayley said.

"Just the pizza," Seth nodded to the server, who thanked him and left to put in the order.

Using her straw, Bayley started on her drink. Unlike some places, the Coke was actually nice, not the watered down crap that you got in cheaper establishments. "Try yours," she urged Seth, hoping that he would like it.

Seth removed the straw from his drink and put it out of the way at the end of table, next to the wall, then took a healthy drink from the glass. To his pleasant surprise, the drink tasted peculiar, but nice nevertheless. "I like it," he announced. "It's a strange taste, but I could definitely put a few of these away."

"I'm not going to have to take you of here in an ambulance now am I?" Bayley chuckled. "I've started you on the slippery slope."

"I think I can stop short of that," Seth replied, laughing. "Apart from wrestling injuries, I've never been in an ambulance before. Don't want to start tonight."

"I've never been in one at all," Bayley revealed, before knocking on the wooden table top. "Knock on wood, I've never had a nasty injury."

"I had to call an ambulance one time though, when I was like fifteen, sixteen, something like that," Seth said.

Bayley was surprised by the fact that he smiled as he said it. What could possibly be funny about calling an ambulance? "What happened?" she asked him.

"We lived right on the edge of town. A few minutes walk and you were out in the country. There was a smallish forested area not far away. We used to go hang out up there quite a bit after school. There was one bit where the pathway went downhill quite steeply. They'd put a few steps in here and there on the steepest bits, but it was mainly just the regular pathway. It was great to sled down in the winter when it snowed. Anyway, there was a steep embankment going upwards on one side of this pathway, and right at the top of it, there was this enormous oak tree. I'm talking a seriously huge tree," he emphasized, also gesturing with his hands. "If you climbed up through the bushes and things, you could get up to it. We went down there one day and someone had brought a length of rope. We got it strung up there on one of the massive branches, making a rope swing out of it."

"I used to love rope swings," Bayley said, enjoying his story so far, and happy to see how comfortable he was with talking to her.

"This was the best ever rope swing," Seth said, smiling at the memory. "You could take a run up off the top of the embankment and then you'd swing way out over it as it sloped down. You were so high up it was insane at the farthest point. It made you nervous when it was your turn, but of course you never said that to anyone. That swing stayed there for months and we would go on it whenever we were down there. One day we were down there and this guy Wayne decided after he ran and jumped off the edge of the embankment that it would be a good idea to show off that he could swing one handed."

"He fell off?" Bayley asked, leaning forward, engrossed in the story now.

"Yep. Not at the highest point, but not far from it. He must have fell fifteen feet at least into the bushes. He actually disappeared in there to start with, so we went scrambling down there as quick as we could. By the time we got to where he was, he'd climbed out of the bushes and he was like, 'I'm okay, I'm alright,' but then someone pointed out that he'd got blood all down the back of his jeans. He pulled them down and we saw that he'd torn his butt cheek open. Turned out he'd landed butt first on a bit of a broken off tree stump or something."

"Oh my god," Bayley said from behind her hands, both of which were now covering her mouth. "What happened?"

Loving her reaction, Seth carried on in full swing. "There was no cell phone service out there, so we couldn't call 911. You had to get back to where our houses were before you could get a signal. I thought we were going to have to carry him or something, but before we got anything sorted out he just took off running. I have no idea how he managed to run with his butt cheek sliced open like that, I'd have thought it would be agony just to walk, but he ran that quickly we struggled to keep up with him, and he was screaming the whole way too." He burst out laughing at the image in his memory and Bayley joined in. "It wasn't funny at the time, but it definitely is when I look back on it," he finished.

"I'm not sure I can beat that one," Bayley said after having some more of her drink. Seth did likewise while she tried to think of a funny story to tell him. For a few moments she struggled to find one, but then one did come to mind that she thought might get a laugh out of him. "Okay, I remember going to a house party and one of my friend's houses. Charlie, his name was. He had the place to himself because his parents were out of town, so he invited a bunch of people over there. Everyone was drinking even though most of us were eighteen or something. Even I was drinking, WKD or something like that if I remember right. I didn't even like that kind of thing, but I'd drink it just to fit in as much as anything else, you know? Anyway, Charlie's mom had an original newspaper front page from the day after the Titanic sank. It was in a frame, on the wall next to their stairs. Someone ended up tripping as they were going down the stairs and somehow the frame got knocked off the wall. It went bouncing down the stairs and knocked someone's drink over on the way down. The frame broke open, the newspaper fell out and ended up lying in the drink. One of those things that you couldn't do again if you tried."

"No way," Seth said, wide eyed. "That thing must have been worth a fortune. What happened, did your friend get roasted?"

"He was panicking big time," Bayley said, chuckling at the memory. "He ended up picking it up and trying to dry it out. They had radiators in their house, so he turned the heating on and draped it on there and left it for a while. I don't know why though," she added, bursting out laughing. "The ink had ran everywhere, the paper was all stained and ruined. He would have been better off just throwing it in the trash."

After having a good laugh at that image, Seth said, "What happened when his folks came home?"

"That was the best part," Bayley said, laughing again. "He went out the next day and bought a new frame for it. He didn't have much money, so he could only get a cheap one. So his mom came home to find it on the wall where it should have been, but in a cheap, crappy frame, with the ink all smudged everywhere and the paper all yellow and shriveled up. She went wild at him about it, and apparently the first thing he said was, 'Nothing to do with me.'"

Seth roared with laughter at that. Finding his laugh funny as well as the memories that she had been talking about, Bayley lost it too, ending up having to wipe tears from her eyes when she eventually managed to compose herself. They'd both spent more than thirty seconds just laughing.

"Sorry to interrupt the fun," the server said as she walked up to the table carrying their pizza on a huge pan. "I've got a large Meat Feast for you." She set it down on the table between them, then asked, "Anything else I can get for you?"

"No, thank you," Bayley said.

Remembering his manners, Seth used the pizza server provided with the platter to serve Bayley with a slice before taking one for himself. "Thank you," she said, giving him another of those smiles that he would be willing to die for.

Over the meal they talked at length about their families, how and where they had grown up and how they had gotten into wrestling. Before they knew it, the best part of two hours had gone by and they had polished off the entire pizza, which had been delicious, as well as four drinks each. They had both declined dessert, deciding that they had gone more than far enough for one cheat meal.

Neither of them could have expected the date to have gone any better than this; the entire night had been thoroughly enjoyable and there hadn't been even a single moment of awkwardness between them. It felt like they had known each other for a lot longer than they actually had. By the time Seth got them an Uber back to the hotel, after outright refusing all of Bayley's offers of contributing any money towards paying the check, there was no doubt left in either of their minds that the problems they'd previously had with nervousness around each other had been dispelled for good.

* * *

Back at the hotel, Seth walked Bayley back to her room, taking great pleasure and pride in the fact that she took his hand as soon as they were out of the Uber car and held it all the way to her door.

"Thank you so much for tonight," Bayley said warmly when they stopped outside her room, facing him and taking his other hand so that she was now holding them both. "I honestly couldn't have imagined a better night out than that. I loved it. And thank you for paying for it all too. It'll have to be on me next time."

"There's going to be a next time then?" Seth asked, playing it coy.

"Of course," Bayley said softly, before leaning in for the goodnight kiss that she had promised to limit herself to. If nothing else, it would leave Seth wanting more. The problem was that she also wanted more, and that feeling only intensified when their lips met. It felt like her entire body was burning up with desire and she wavered so close to inviting him into her room.

Seth had to be careful that he wasn't standing too close to Bayley because he felt himself hardening quickly as they kissed, and he didn't want her to feel it against her. Although the kiss was delightful, he spent it wondering if she was going to invite him into the room, and whether he would go in if she did. The last part was easy to answer; there was no way he could not go in if she invited him. But would they be rushing things if something ended up happening after their first date?

"Goodnight," Bayley almost whispered to him after they pulled apart, unsure how exactly she had managed it, ending his dilemma.

"Goodnight," Seth smiled back, still tasting her on his lips. "Meet me for breakfast?"

"I'd love to," Bayley said, and after allowing her eyes to linger on his for a moment longer, she entered her room and closed the door.

"Well, that went well," Seth said to himself on his way back to the elevator. "Didn't make a prick out of myself after all."

* * *

Bayley had been in bed for half an hour, yet she wasn't even close to falling asleep. She really regretted not inviting Seth into the room. The kiss had left her wanting a lot more of him, and apart from that the double bed just felt so empty with only her in it. Twenty four hours ago she had been asleep in Seth's arms. That was how she wanted to spend her nights from now on, she knew that, regardless of how early it was in their relationship, if it even was a relationship yet. A relationship was what she wanted. Seth was what she wanted. Turning over, she picked her phone up off of the empty pillow beside her, where she had absently tossed it when she got into bed. After unlocking it, she pulled up the messaging app, tapped Seth's name and typed a message into the conversation.

 _Are you awake? Come back up. xx_

Her finger hovered over the send button, but then doubt hit her for the first time in the night. Didn't asking him to come back look desperate? Sighing, she decided that Seth was probably already asleep anyway and deleted the message.


	9. Chapter 9

"You look busy there, pal," Vince McMahon said as he strode confidently through the open door into Hunter's office at WWE headquarters, seeing that his son-in-law's desk was piled high with paperwork.

"No more than usual," Hunter said pleasantly, looking up with a slightly wary smile. Even for him, a visit from the Chairman was not exactly a regular occurrence. "Everything okay?"

"I've watched the opening promo from this week's Raw several times now," Vince began, starting to slowly pace around the office as he did so. Hunter knew that he never sat on the 'wrong' side of anyone's desk, out of some weird kind of principle. He was a strange guy in a lot of ways, but Hunter liked that about him, most of the time. "I kept going back over the first part," Vince added, making Hunter sigh inwardly.

"Bayley?" Hunter asked rhetorically, getting ready to defend one of his brightest NXT talents against whatever might be about to come. "Listen, Vince..."

"No, hear me out," Vince cut him off abruptly. "I've had some people express doubts to me about whether Bayley has what it takes to take on the role that I wanted for her..."

"'Some people' being Steph," Hunter sighed, not needing to frame it as a question. "Vince, there's something you..."

"If you'll let me get a word in, you might learn that I'm not here to criticise," Vince said irritably, stopping his pacing for a moment to stare at Hunter.

"Sorry, go ahead," Hunter said, leaning back in his chair.

"I actually don't think Stephanie's right on this one," Vince clarified as he resumed pacing. "Knowing that Bayley was upset about turning, I think she went out there and did a great job in what had to be a difficult situation for her. No one watching would have sensed any unease or anything like that from the way she spoke, from the way she looked. In fact I think she found a very authoritative voice for her new character, which shows a lot of promise in my eyes. Plus there's the fact that she looked good in a suit. It suited her, for want of a better expression."

"Where are you heading with this?" Hunter asked, out of genuine interest now rather than trepidation.

"Stephanie has been asking me to take her off-screen for a while now so she can spend less time on the road, as you know. I talked her into staying on to get us through the brand split and the draft, and now we're into this thing with Foley, but this morning I was thinking that I might give her what she's asked for when that angle has played out."

"Meaning?" Hunter asked, skeptically raising an eyebrow.

"If Stephanie's character were to leave, or be made to leave, that would leave Raw with no Commissioner. Watching that promo earlier got the idea into my head of Bayley becoming the Commissioner in her place."

"Commissioner Bayley?" Hunter asked, narrowing his eyes. "I don't know about that idea. And to be honest, I think we've thrown enough at her for now with the heel turn."

"I'm not talking about doing it now," Vince reminded him. "I said after we're done with the Authority - Foley angle. I've put some thought into this, and I thought about the heel turn aspect too. This would be good for Bayley in that regard. If we did go with this, we'd need her to use her full name on-screen. Commissioner Bayley doesn't sound right to me at all. Commissioner Bayley Martinez would have to be how she was addressed. And, if we did go with it, I picture her as more of a devisive figure, not being all out hated by everyone. That would be better for her if she's still uncomfortable with the idea of being a heel by then, not that I think she will be."

Hunter was already thinking over the idea for himself, mainly looking at what it might mean for Bayley. Vince was correct that it might be better for her in terms of not being one of the most hated people on the roster, which was so contrary to the kind of person she was. The old man had also made good points about the way she had looked and talked in her first heel promo. Authoritative was the word Vince had used, and it was an accurate description. The Commissioner was an authoritative figure, so he could see the logic of Vince's thinking. On the other hand, Hunter imagined that the Commissioner of Monday Night Raw wouldn't be doing much wrestling, and that seemed to him like squandering Bayley's huge talent. "I admit you make some good points," he decided to say. "But it sounds to me like we'd be taking Bayley away from wrestling. I don't like that, and neither will she. Wrestling is what she loves, and she's really good. You know that as well as I do. We just can't waste one of our best wrestlers like that."

"Way ahead of you," Vince said. "Mick would stay on as General Manager, so we could still have the same deal that he makes the matches. If he wants to book Bayley in a match, he can, Commissioner or not. That's how we get her in the ring. She won't be wrestling every week though, that would have her on TV too much. Over saturation isn't good."

Another potential problem had occurred to Hunter while Vince was talking. While Stephanie had been Commissioner, there had been some weeks where she had barely been seen at all. "I'd want her used more than Steph is right now," Hunter said, making it clear with his tone that he was prepared to fight Bayley's corner. "She deserves more than a couple of minutes backstage every week."

"Agreed," Vince said, somewhat to Hunter's surprise. "The character I have in mind is a Commissioner who runs her show in every respect, almost Presidential in style. We say that she's responsible for everything from new signings, to budgets, to ratings. She runs the show from top to bottom. We've never really had a political figure like that, and it's an idea that I like. We'd have people who loved her for the good that she's doing for Raw, and on the other hand we'd have people who hate her for what they see as negative aspects of how she runs things."

"We don't have political figures because most of our viewers don't give a damn about politics," Hunter pointed out. "Having said that, I think you might be on to something here. There would be people who agreed with Bayley's view on things and others who agreed with Foley. You said he'd be kept on as GM, so I'd have him act as a spokesman or something for those in the locker room who don't like the way she runs things. The way you describe this character, she seems like she's not about WWE, she's all about Raw specifically," he added thoughtfully. "How would she perceive or react to Smackdown?"

"With contempt," Vince said, without needing to give it any thought. "If we're going to have her be so focused on what's best for Raw, Smackdown are her competition. They'd be the lowest of the low for her."

A silence descended on the room while Hunter thought it over some more. It was a new kind of idea for WWE, and not one that he would have thought of himself, but that didn't mean that it couldn't work. "I think it's worthy of further discussion," he said thoughtfully. "At least we both agree that Bayley has a lot of potential and needs to be at the top in one way or another."

"I already put the title on her," Vince pointed out. "Right, I won't keep you any longer. I'll get the writing team to flesh this out and we can revisit it at a later date."

"Sounds good," Hunter said to his father-in-law, who was already heading for the door.

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't send it!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Don't make it worse," Bayley said, shaking her head and looking down at the floor. "I really wish I had. Especially when Seth mentioned at breakfast that he didn't get to sleep for ages after he went back to his room."

"I don't know that it's all that bad," Sasha said thoughtfully. "If you wanted him so bad, you can bet your ass he wanted you too. You made him wait. That's good."

They were in their locker room before that night's house show. Bayley had just described the entire date to them in great detail, with both Charlotte and Sasha figuratively on the edges of their seats as they waited to find out if anything had happened when they'd gone back to the hotel afterwards. Although her friend's opinions differed, Bayley regretted not sending the text message to ask Seth to come back to her room. First date or not, she had enjoyed his company so much and felt so at ease with him that she had been ready to go further than kissing him. Sleeping alone had proved to be difficult and unpleasant too. Several times during the night she had woken up and wanted to turn over and put her arm around Seth, only to remember that he wasn't there, which had made her realise that she wanted him in her life. Part of her wondered if she was thinking too fast too soon, but she felt ready for a relationship.

Then there had been the dream, but she definitely couldn't talk about that with her friends. It would be way too embarrassing to talk about the fact that she had dreamed about having sex with Seth. Now that she had thought about the dream again, it was hard to get it back out of her head. "I missed him during the night," she admitted, without really thinking about the fact that she had said it out loud.

Sasha looked at Charlotte with an 'Awww' expression on her face.

"Are you seeing him again tonight?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah. He's coming to my room to play some games on the PS4. We went out and bought some this morning."

"Playstation and chill," Sasha grinned.

"I don't know about that," Bayley said, feeling her cheeks burning up instantly. Blushing so easily was a trait that she really hated.

Although she had previously made an agreement with Sasha that they wouldn't tease Bayley about Seth, there was only so far Charlotte could go before she just had to do it. This was too much. She held her hands up, near to Bayley's cheeks. "Just going to warm my hands up a bit."

Bayley knew that the teasing was good-natured, and she knew that she had no right to expect to get away without any, but it still embarrassed her nonetheless. There was only one real way to respond, by firing back with something better. "Jealous, Charlotte? When was the last time you got any action?"

"Ooohhh!" Sasha exclaimed theatrically, loving the back and forth. "Holy shit, girl. That was brutal."

Giggling, Charlotte said, "Unless I'm mistaken, you've not had any action with Seth yet. Maybe you should get on that before you laugh at me?"

"Alright, I will," Bayley said quickly, not considering how it would sound when it came out.

"Oh, it's gonna get hot in that room tonight," Sasha said as Charlotte burst out laughing. Bayley's cheeks reddened once more.

* * *

"There you are," Roman said, walking up to the table in catering where Seth was sitting, enjoying eating a salad bowl.

"What's up?" Seth greeted his friend with a mouthful of food. Unlike when he was eating with Bayley, manners could be damned.

"You mean other than the fact you've got bits of salad all down your shirt?" Roman grinned as he took the seat opposite Seth.

"Fuck's sake," Seth complained, looking down at the the mess that he'd made.

"Don't tell me you ate like that last night? Bayley must have thought you were a real pig."

"We shared a pizza, and yeah, I did get cheese all down my chin at one point," Seth admitted, laughing. "Hey, she found it funny. Girls love a guy who makes them laugh."

"They're supposed to laugh with you, not at you," Roman grinned as Seth attacked his food again.

The fact that laughing was the first thing Seth had done when the date had been brought up was a good sign for Roman. He would never actually say it to his friend - it just wasn't how they were with each other - but he had been pulling for him to hit it off with Bayley. They just seemed perfect for each other, and Seth deserved someone in his life who would make him happy. Banter aside, Seth was a very kind and considerate person to those who he was close to. Roman knew that first hand; Seth having been there for him at some of the worst moments in his career, when the fans had been at their most vicious in the way that they were reacting to him. "So how did it go?" he asked, more seriously now.

"Really well," Seth said, brushing some more pieces of salad that he'd previously managed to miss off his shirt and onto the floor. "It didn't feel like a first date at all to be honest. We shared a couple of amusing stories, Bayley was actually crying at one point, then we talked about where we grew up, how we got into wrestling, all that kind of thing. We were in the restaurant for two hours or something, and it just flew by."

"Sounds like it went about as well as a first date can do," Roman said, pleased for his friend. "Then what happened?"

"We went back to the hotel, I walked her to her room and we kissed. For a moment I thought she was going to ask me into the room," Seth added, disappointment coming through quite clearly in his tone at the fact that it hadn't gone that way. "I really wanted her to, but obviously it had to be her decision. I went back to my room and I couldn't sleep."

"Because you wanted to be with her?" Roman asked with unusual delicacy. There was no judgement in it, and no attempt to poke fun at Seth.

"Yeah," Seth admitted with a sigh, but then he did his best to put it aside. "We met each other for breakfast though, and I'm going to her room tonight to play some Playstation. Who knows, maybe that will lead to something?"

"Bro, if you can score with a girl by playing video games with her, it's time you were the one giving me advice."

* * *

"Here is your winner, Seth Rollins!"

The ring announcement was greeted by delighted laughter from Bayley, who put her Playstation controller down beside her on the bed. "I just beat Seth Rollins, using Seth Rollins. My life is complete."

"Come on, I was using Ziggler. What chance did I have?" Seth whined, albeit playfully.

"I also won the last match, and the Royal Rumble before that," Bayley reminded him. They had been playing for an hour, and she had enjoyed every second of it. So much so that she could hardly have been happier. A hot guy with an amazing personality, who also wanted to play games with her? Where had she managed to find him from?

It didn't occur to her that Seth was thinking almost exactly the same thing about her. The fact that she was consistantly beating him on the game didn't matter, he told himself. They were both enjoying it, and enjoying being in each other's company. Winning at least one game would help to restore some pride though. The simple fact was that Bayley was ridiculously good at the game, not that he intended to say anything like that out loud. A smile came to his face when he considered that they had been taunting and teasing each other like a couple who had been together for a long time.

"I'm playing as Roman this time," Bayley said, interrupting his thoughts. She picked up her controller and returned to the main menu, started up another quick match, and selected Roman as her character.

An idea came to Seth while he considered who to choose. It was hard not to laugh at the image that had come into his head, but he couldn't let on that he was planning something. "Okay, I'm going to be Cena this time," he announced.

"Maybe I'll go easy on you this time," Bayley grinned cheekily. Both of them new she had no intention of doing any such thing.

The match got underway and conversation was reduced to a minimum. Concentration was more important. It was a small mistake by Bayley that gave Seth the chance to put his plan into action. She missed with an attempt at a clothesline and hit the referee instead. "Oh, the referee's been knocked down," she chuckled, providing her own commentary.

Seth made his Cena hit Reigns with a suplex, then quickly climbed out of the ring. "Wait, what's Cena doing now?" he asked, joining in on commentary himself. "Cena's looking under the ring. He's got a steel chair!"

"Don't you dare hit me with that," Bayley said, mashing buttons to try and make Reigns get back up.

Cena slid back into the ring, chair in hand. When Reigns started to get back up, Cena swung the weapon and delivered a vicious shot to the head, turning Reigns' damage indicator to red. "Heel turn!" Seth shouted out. "Cena's turned heel!"

The referee recovered and got back up just as Cena tossed the chair out of the ring and then made a cover. Saying nothing, Bayley was just focusing on trying to kick out. When the referee began to count, Seth reached over and knocked her right hand off the controller. "Heel turn!" he shouted once more.

Bayley had no chance to recover, and Cena got the three count, Seth laughing the whole time. "You cheating asshole!" Bayley yelled at him, feigning anger. It only made Seth laugh even harder. "Absolute asshole!" she yelled, shoving him backwards onto the bed. Moving quickly, she sat astride his stomach, then started reigning half-hearted blows down on his chest and shoulders, which he tried to fend off, laughing even harder still.

"I won fair and square!" Seth insisted through his laughter.

"How about I kill you fair and square?" Bayley said, still pretending to be furious with him, doing her best to get through his defenses with her semi-clenched fists.

"Help!" Seth cried out, giggling like a mad man. "Murder!"

"Shut up!" Bayley demanded, staying in character. She leaned forward, almost completely lying on top of him now, and clamped a hand over his mouth, which still took a moment to stop him laughing.

It was then that they both realised how intimate the moment had suddenly become. Seth could feel himself hardening beneath her, and he knew there was no way that she wouldn't feel it too. In fact he could see it in her eyes, only inches from his own. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

"If I take my hand away, you have to let me kiss you," she said, softly now, feeling herself burning with desire. The feeling of having power over him only added more fuel to the flames.

"Mmmm hmmm," Seth agreed from behind her palm.

Bayley removed her hand from his mouth, replacing it with her own, kissing him passionately.

* * *

A short while later, they were lying side by side on the bed, naked, breathless, arms wrapped around each in the afterglow of their first time making love to each other. It had been incredible, Seth thought, feeling his heart still racing. He hadn't really expected them to have sex this soon, and hadn't brought any protection. That would have to change from now on. A more immidiate concern was what to say to Bayley now. He was already sure that he was in love with her, but he knew it was too soon to say that.

"Please sleep here tonight," Bayley said quietly, looking into the eyes of the love of her life. She knew Seth was the one for her already, but she didn't want to say that she loved him, not this soon. She couldn't even imagine sleeping without him again, on this night or any other.

"Nobody could drag me away," Seth promised her, leaning forward slightly to kiss her softly on the forehead, the same as he had the first time he had kissed her on the first night they had shared a room, when she had tearfully climbed into bed with him, seeking comfort. It was a loving, respectful gesture that meant so much to her.

"Seth, I..." she began, then cautiously stopped herself.

"I know. Me too," Seth said. Saying it without saying it felt right, for now.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm still not comfortable at all dressing like this," Bayley complained, fiddling with one of the sleeves of her dark grey suit jacket.

"Well I think you look stunning in a suit," Seth said. "I've always liked a smartly dressed woman, especially a hot one."

"You always know the right thing to say," Bayley replied, managing a smile. Seth was driving them the short distance from their hotel to the arena where Raw was to be held. They'd made the decision not to tell their friends quite yet, but they now considered themselves to be in a relationship. They'd have sex five times so far, which had finally killed off any remaining unease that there might have been between them for good. There was a lot more to it than sex though, Bayley thought as she looked back on the past few days. She couldn't remember a time where she had ever been happier. Thanks to their crazy schedule, they had been able to do little more than work house shows and then spend the nights together in their hotel room - they now only booked one at each hotel - but that had been more than enough to have Bayley truly loving life, apart from the heel turn.

Being booed by the fans was proving to be very hard to adjust to, not that it surprised her in any way. Tonight's Raw wasn't exactly something that she was relishing, for that reason. Hunter had told her after the previous week's show that she was going to be required to go to the ring tonight and insult and ridicule the people who had loyally supported her, and wanted to continue to do so. Betraying those people, even though she wouldn't mean a single word she said, promised to be a very bitter pill to swallow.

"It'll get easier after tonight," Seth promised her, bringing the car to a stop at a red light. He'd just glanced over and seen the troubled expression on her face.

"Do you think we should say anything to anyone about us being together?" Bayley asked nervously. "Hunter maybe? I mean, people will notice sooner rather than later how we kiss each other."

"It's a bit late for that, Stephanie noticed it last week," Seth revealed. "She made a joke about it when I hugged her right after we kissed. You can bet she mentioned it to Hunter, probably to Vince too."

"I'm glad you didn't tell me that before now," Bayley said, feeling her cheeks warming up. "I'd have died if she'd have said anything to me."

"I think we should wait a bit before we say anything," Seth said after considering it for a moment. "And we should really tell our friends first, when we do decide to say something." It wasn't that he wasn't proud to be with Bayley, far from it, it was just that people might not understand how quickly they'd made an undeniable connection with each other. People could be quick to judge, and it was easy to imagine people like Hunter, or especially Vince, jumping to the conclusion that they'd stupidly rushed into something that they weren't committed to, which would also look unprofessional given their on-screen relationship. None of those things were true, but it was about what people would think, not what the realities were.

"Maybe you're right," Bayley conceded. "I just don't like having to keep you secret. I'm proud to be with you, and I want people to know that I'm with you."

"You'll have me blushing at this rate," Seth said, genuinely touched by what she'd just said. "I wouldn't look cute like you do, but..." he let his voice trail off.

Bayley was about to lean over and kiss him, but the light turned green and he had to direct his attention back to the road. "Maybe we should tell our our friends though? I don't mean everyone, I mean you tell Roman and I tell Charlotte and Sasha. I know I could trust them to keep quiet if I swear them to secrecy."

Seth considered that as he carefully watched a taxi which appeared to be being driven by Stevie Wonder weaving between lanes just ahead of them. Part of him did want to talk to Roman about the whole thing. His friend was always full of good advice, and he could be trusted to keep his mouth shut if asked to. Bayley clearly had the same level of trust in her two closest friends. "Okay," he agreed. "But only those guys, and they have to keep it to themselves for now. We don't want everyone gossiping about us. You know what people can be like."

"I know," Bayley assured him, letting her tone convey her distaste for those in the back who liked to spend a bit too much time minding other people's business.

Seth smiled as he drove on, now looking forward to Roman's reaction to the news.

* * *

Ten minutes later, they were walking into the arena, pulling their cases along behind them. It took conscious effort for them not to hold each other's hands. With the way gossip traveled around backstage, someone seeing them doing that off camera would have had their secret go public in the blink of an eye.

"Bayley? Excuse me, Bayley?" a runner called out from behind them as they headed for the locker rooms.

"Hey, what's up?" Bayley asked pleasantly after she and Seth turned to face the guy who was jogging up to them. Heel character or not, she could be her usual self with the backstage crew. It was actually something out of the ordinary now; a thought which really saddened her. There hadn't been a situation yet where she'd had to upset a kid in public by sticking to her new character, but she knew that yet was the correct word.

"Mr McMahon wants to see you in his office, right away."

Bayley looked at Seth, and he could see the trepidation in her eyes. "Don't worry," he said gently, wishing that the runner wasn't standing there so he could give her one of those kisses on the forehead that she loved. "He probably just wants to ask how your first week as this character has gone."

"I'll catch up to you later then," was all she could say in reply. Then, turning to the runner, she said, "Show me the way, please."

As they walked along the hallway, Bayley felt nerves starting to eat away at her. She'd never had a meeting with Vince McMahon before, having always been under the command of Hunter until she'd joined the main roster. Even then, her orders had always come from Hunter, almost as if he was being careful to make sure that she was still under his wing. That worked just fine for her. Hunter knew her, knew what she was good at, and knew how to get the best out of her. This heel turn never would have happened on NXT, that was for sure. As for Vince, she'd never said more than a timid hello to him when he had passed her in a hallway once. Now he had summoned her to his office, for what, she dreaded to think. At least she could try to appear more composed and confident than she felt. Vince didn't like weakness in people, everyone knew that.

They soon arrived at Vince's office, and Bayley hovered in the open doorway. Vince was pacing around the expensively furnished office, on a call on his cell phone. While speaking, he gestured for her to come in. Trying to hide the deep breath that she had to take for courage, she did as instructed and closed the door behind her.

"Okay, do that then," Vince gruffly ordered whoever was one the other end of the phone, then ended the call. "Bayley, how are you?" he asked with a kindness that surprised her for some reason.

"I'm good, thank you," she replied, putting all of her precious little confidence into it. "How are you?"

"Good," Vince said simply, then it was down to business. "I watched your promo from last week's show a few times. You found a very authoritative voice for your character. Finding it so quickly impressed me, and I also like the new look for you." For emphasis, he gestured at the suit that she was wearing. "It gave me an idea about how we might tweak your new character a bit."

"Tweak?" Bayley asked, totally lost as to where he was heading.

"That's right," Vince nodded, then gestured for her to take a seat on one of the two couches in the office, which were arranged either side of a low glass table.

As she took a seat, Bayley couldn't help thinking that the Chairman had better furniture for his mobile office that the crew set up every week than she had back in her apartment in Orlando. How the other half lived.

"One thing I expect when I talk to people is honesty," Vince informed her after sitting down opposite her. His tone was even enough, but it still put her on guard. "Now, the heel turn that we gave you. Are you comfortable with it?"

Bayley considered the way the question had been phrased. If he wanted an honest answer, she decided to suck it up and give him one. "No, Mr McMahon, I'm not comfortable with it. I hate it. I loved being the kid's favourite character. Making them cry isn't me. I don't mean to sound like I don't appreciate the confidence, or the push, and certainly not the fact that you put the title me. That part is a dream come true..."

"You're babbling, Bayley," Vince said, with a hint of humour.

"Sorry."

"What would you say if I told you there was a way to tweak your new character so that you're still one of our focal points, but you're more of a devisive figure rather than a hated one?"

"I'd say let's do it," Bayley replied eagerly. "Then I'd ask you what you have in mind."

Vince paused for a second before answering. Trying to read his expression, Bayley got the feeling that she was being tested somehow, for some reason. If she'd read the look in the boss's eyes correctly, it seemed like she was passing the test too.

"In simple terms, I want to make you the Commissioner of Monday Night Raw."

"Oh," Bayley gasped, surprised to say the least. "But, what about Stephanie?"

"She'll be taking time off the road in the not too distant future. Let me be clear on a few things before we go any further, because I know these are questions you'll want answers to. Firstly, we'll be seeing through the angle with The Authority and Mick Foley to its conclusion, and you'll be the Women's Champion during that time. However, you will be required to drop it shortly after you take on the role of Commissioner, as we don't want to risk over saturating you on-screen."

Bayley had no problem with being asked to drop the title. That was just the nature of the business as far as she was concerned, but this new role worried her in that it might not involve much wrestling. Standing in the ring and talking every week wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to be doing. "Will I still get to wrestle?" she asked, doing her best not to sound timid. "I don't really want a role like Stephanie's to be honest. Wrestling is what I love doing."

"I appreciate that," Vince replied easily. "You'll still be wrestling. Not every week, because again, over saturation, but Mick will remain as General Manager and we'll have it that he can book you in matches, Commissioner or not."

"Okay," Bayley said, relieved. "Is there anything I need to do to prepare for this character?"

Vince appreciated the intelligence of that question. The main reason he had summoned her was to get a feel for her personality himself. Relying on Hunter's opinion was okay up to a point, but if Bayley was going to be the big star that they hoped for, he wanted to have his own judgement to base decisions on. "The main thing I want you to do is work on the voice of Commissioner Martinez. Oh, that's what I meant to say, from now on we're going to have you announced and referred to as Bayley Martinez, not Bayley. I want you to refine the voice of a businesswoman who stands up for what she believes in, very often at the expense of anyone else's ideas or opinions. The storyline will be that you run the show from top to bottom, responsible for everything from signing talent, to the budget, to ratings. Foley will be the man who books the matches, and also he will act as the spokesperson of sorts for those in the locker room who don't agree with your style of management or your policies."

"This sounds quite political," Bayley said thoughtfully. "It's like I'm going to be the President of Raw or something."

"Exactly," Vince said, delighted that she was picturing the character exactly the way he'd intended it to be. "There's also potential for you to have some interaction with Shane and Daniel over on Smackdown. Being as pro-Raw as you are, you would regard them, their people and their show as the lowest of the low. As the enemy, so to speak."

"So how do you want me to interact with the fans, if this is now my character? I don't see Commissioner Martinez treating the fans like crap. If she's so pro-Raw, she would know that the show needs fans to succeed."

"Right," Vince nodded. "We no longer want you to treat the fans badly, which I'm sure you're pleased to hear. Most of the time, when you're in the ring for example, you won't really interact with the fans. You're there to manage the show, they're there to watch it. But when you're in public? You can smile, shake hands, sign things if you want to. Anything that fits in character as a Commissioner. We'll require you to dress accordingly at all times, when you're traveling for example. I don't want fans seeing you arriving at the airport for a Raw wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts."

"I understand," Bayley said, resigning herself to getting used to wearing suits a lot of the time. She tried to picture herself in the ring, as the Commissioner of Raw. Surprisingly, she actually liked what she saw in her mind's eye. Not being mercilessly booed by the fans and not having to actively upset the kids made any idea better than what she'd had when she'd walked into the office.

"That just leaves us with tonight," Vince said, moving the meeting swiftly on. "Rather than going out there and talking down to the fans, I'm going to have you cut a promo on Foley, criticising him and the way he does business, saying that Raw would be better off with someone who has some actual knowledge of business in his position. It'll look like you're angling for his job, but of course it won't play out like that. I'll get some pointers to you before the show starts."

"I'll give it my best," Bayley promised him, as she had also promised Hunter when he had originally told her about the heel turn. "The only thing I don't understand is how Stephanie is going to end up out of a job, and how I come to replace her."

"We've already got that figured out," Vince said, smiling at what he perceived to be the brilliance of his idea. "Here's how it's going to go..."

* * *

Seth and Roman had been sitting in their locker room for several minutes, enjoying a catch up chat. Although Seth was genuinely enjoying listening to what Roman was saying about talking to his young daughter on Skype the previous night, he was also using the time to pluck up the courage to tell his friend about how things had progressed with Bayley. He also wanted to get advice on one particular detail.

"So how are things with you and Bayley?" Roman asked a couple of minutes later, when the first topic of conversation had been exhausted.

"Why do you ask?" Seth asked, caught off balance by the fact that Roman seemed to be a mind reader all of a sudden.

"Bro, you didn't stop talking about her for a few days. You had a great date with her, then you suddenly stopped mentioning her at all. Is everything okay with you guys?"

Seth realised that Roman was looking at things the opposite way to how they really were; thinking that he and Bayley might have decided that it wasn't going to work out or something. "No, we're great," he assured his friend. "I only stopped talking about us because uh..."

Reminding himself not to tease Seth too much, Roman leaned forward and kept his voice quiet, encouraging. "Did you have sex with her?"

"Don't say anything, man," Seth groaned reluctantly. "I don't want this broadcast around the..."

"Hey, this is me you're talking to," Roman cut him off. "Nothing you say to me in confidence goes any further, you know that."

"You're right, sorry," Seth said, feeling bad for doubting him. He wanted to talk to someone, and Roman was that someone, so he had to come out with it. "We had sex that night when I went to her room to play PS4."

"You son of a bitch," Roman laughed, shaking his head in wonder. "You scored with a hot chick like Bayley by playing fucking Playstation games with her? Where did you find her from anyway?"

Ignoring the attempted banter, Seth carried on with what he wanted to say. "We've had sex five times now. I feel like we're totally at ease with each other at this point. She's happy, I've never been happier, and it's great. All but one thing."

Roman's eyebrows raised. "Oh?"

Seth sighed. This was the bit of the conversation he'd wanted to have, to get advice, but now he felt reluctant to come out with it. "Seriously man, you can't say a word about this."

"You got it. Unless you're going to say you can't get your dick hard..."

"Fuck you, man," Seth snapped, taking the bait straight down.

"I'm just playing with you," Roman laughed. "Seriously, go ahead. I'm here to help, and whatever it is, it's between the two of us."

"Okay, thanks," Seth said, leaning forwards and propping his chin up with the palms of his hands, an elbow on each knee. It meant that he didn't have to maintain eye contact with Roman. "So here's the thing. The first time we had sex was after we got into a play fight over the WWE game. She shoved me down on the bed and she was half-heartedly punching me for cheating. I was playing along and I called for help. Bayley pretty much lay on me, pinning me down, then she put her hand over my mouth, and that's when I saw she was turned on and ready to go. I was too, and we had sex right then and there."

"Sounds good to me," Roman said, wondering what the problem was supposed to be.

"It was. And the next three times after that were too, but then last night she was riding me, and she put her hand over my mouth again, and pinned me down as much as she could. I think she has a thing for that, and I don't know how to talk to her about it. She's a really shy person and I don't want to upset her or frighten her off."

"God damn," Roman said enviously. "You found one who's hot, gentle and shy, _and_ filthy in bed. That's the jackpot right there, dude."

"I'm serious, man," Seth said, still not looking at him. "How do I talk to her about it?"

"Well, you don't have a problem with it do you?" Roman asked, getting serious now. "If that is what she likes, I mean."

"No, I'm okay with it," Seth said, admitting defeat and making eye contact with Roman as he leaned back against the locker room wall. "It's kind of a turn on in a way, but I don't understand why exactly she likes to do that, and I don't know how to talk about it without freaking her out. I don't want to upset her. That's the last thing I want."

"The why I can definitely tell you," Roman said confidently. "I was with a chick like that once. It's a power thing, a control thing. You're a big, strong dude. Bayley likes that she can pin you down, and by covering your mouth she has even more power over you. Like, you can't talk until she lets you, that kind of deal. If she wasn't too shy to say it, I'd make a bet that she'd like to tie your hands too. There's nothing wrong with it at all, it's just a bit of a kink that gives her a rush. Go with it, let her enjoy it when she wants to do it. If my past experience is anything to go by, she'd probably like you to do the same thing back to her too. The loss of control can be as much of a turn on as being in control. You even just said you found it a turn on."

"I wouldn't be comfortable with that," Seth said, shaking his head. "She might think I was forcing myself on her."

"Well, no, you talk to her first, obviously," Roman said, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Back to the original problem then," Seth sighed. "How do I do that without embarrassing her? Let me ask that a different way. What would you do?"

"Simple," Roman grinned. "I'd let her ride me again, and if she covered my mouth again, I'd wait until we were done, then I'd say something like, 'you like that then?' If she gets shy about it, just let her know that she doesn't need to be, not with you. You're her man. If things are going to get serious between you, she needs to know she can trust you with everything in her life, good and bad. This thing could actually be really good for the two of you in terms of building trust."

Taking all of that on-board, Seth felt a lot more confident than he had before talking to Roman. He always had experience and the right advice for any situation, and was always willing to help too. It was ideal to have a friend like that. "I appreciate you talking to me, man. I'd be lost sometimes without you."

"Sometimes?" Roman asked good-naturedly. "You'd always be lost without me."

"Always lost then," Seth conceded with a grin. After a short pause, he said, "You should come out to dinner with Bayley and I one night. I've hardly seen you this past week or so, and she needs to get to know my main man."

"Sounds good," Roman said, thinking that it was a shame that his wife couldn't be with them to make it a proper double date. "As long as I don't get left as a third wheel."

"No way. I wouldn't let that happen. I'll sort something out and let you know."


	11. Chapter 11

"I know you don't agree, but I love your new character," Sasha said to Bayley when the current Women's Champion walked back into their locker room after Raw's main event, in which Seth had pinned Finn Balor thanks to a low blow which had lead to a Pedigree. The referee had been distracted by Bayley, who had pretended to twist her ankle as she walked around outside the ring. As soon as Seth had gotten the three count, they had run away to the back, making it clear that nothing had been wrong with her at all.

"I'm a bit happier about it after tonight," Bayley was willing to concede. "Vince made some changes, as I'm sure you figured out from the opening promo. I'm not going to be the top heel anymore, which I'm glad about."

"I did wonder about that. The speech against Foley wasn't what I expected. It seemed like you were going after his job or something."

Bayley put her title belt down on the bench, then took off her suit jacket and hung it up on a hanger, the first step of changing back into something that she was more comfortable with. "Close. You're actually talking to the next Commissioner of Raw."

"Shut up," Sasha said, looking at her friend with a very skeptical expression on her face.

Bayley sat down beside Sasha and took off her high heel shoes. "I'm serious. That's what they're giving me. Apparently Steph's taking some time off the road, and Vince likes the way I look and talk as this character, so he's making me Commissioner. It means I'll have to drop the title though."

"I'll think you'll be great in that role," Sasha decided after considering it for a moment. "Looking at that promo tonight, I can definitely see what Vince was thinking. There's something about the way you talk, for sure. I can see you out there ordering people around like Stephanie does. And I guess this means you won't have to go around intentionally upsetting kids too. I know you were hating the thought of having to do that."

Bayley sighed with relief. "Yeah, Commissioner Martinez can be child friendly, to some extent anyway. It's better than what I had before, so I'm just going to try and be grateful for it at this point. Where's Charlotte?" she asked, hoping that there would be enough time to talk about her relationship with Seth before her other friend returned. Doing it one at a time would make it a lot easier for her, naturally shy as she was.

"Hunter wanted to see her about something. She only just left before you came in. I'm surprised you didn't see her in the hallway."

"I wanted to, uh, talk to you about something else," Bayley said, looking down at the floor, feeling nervous and awkward already.

"Seth?" Sasha guessed, not that it was much of a challenge. Bayley would probably be the worst poker player on the face of the planet. She just hoped that nothing had gone wrong, knowing how lost Bayley was on Seth. "Are you okay? I mean, are you both okay?"

"Oh, it's not that," Bayley said quickly, looking up at her friend. "I didn't mean to make it sound like we broke up or something. It's going great. Seth's great. I literally couldn't be happier right now. I was just nervous to talk about, well..."

"Ah, I see," Sasha grinned, finding Bayley's shyness adorable. Seth really had gotten lucky to find such a sweetheart, and he had better realise it as far as she was concerned. "You guys had sex?"

"Yes," Bayley said, silently raging at her cheeks for warming up. "Is there some surgery you can get to make it impossible to blush?" she asked in frustration. "I hate it so bad."

"Don't. It's really cute, and I'd bet that Seth loves that about you. Why are you embarrassed about having sex with him anyway? You're dating him."

"I'm not embarrassed about having sex with him. I'm embarrassed about _talking_ about having sex with him. But I just wanted to tell you because, well, you're my best friend."

"Awww," Sasha said, pulling Bayley into a hug. "You kill me sometimes, with the things you say."

"Well, it's true," Bayley said, returning the hug tightly. "You're the reason I even had the confidence to go on a date with him to start with. I have the feeling that Seth is my special someone, and I might have let him pass me by if it wasn't for you."

Sasha actually felt herself tearing up at that. "You've been there for me enough times, girl. That's what best friends do for each other."

They pulled apart, and Bayley's shyness returned again. The next thing she wanted to talk about was the most embarrassing of all. "Sash, there's, uh, how can I put this? Oh god, it's so embarrassing. There's something I like to do when we're having sex. I've always had fantasies about it and, well, I just don't want Seth to get freaked out or something."

"Relax," Sasha said, trying to reassure her. "We all have our little kinks. As long as yours isn't something really crazy, like taking a shit on the guy or something, I'm sure Seth's fine with it. Hell, he's a guy. He probably loves it as much as you do."

"People like to _shit_ on each other?" Bayley gasped out, horrified. "That's beyond vile. No, it's nothing like that. Do you really want me to tell you about it?"

"It's totally up to you," Sasha said easily. "I'm not going to pressure you to say anything you don't want to, but it's kind of hard to give you much advice about it if I don't know what we're talking about."

Bayley looked down at the floor again, wondering if it might just be better to die right then and there rather than go through with it. "Alright, I'll tell you. I like to hold him down and cover his mouth. It's being in control of him like that, it just really turns me on." Shaking her head, she added, "I can't believe I just said that to you."

"That's quite tame, girl," Sasha said, trying as hard as she could not to grin, even though Bayley wasn't even looking at her. "I'm definitely sure Seth doesn't have a problem with that. In fact, like I said, I'd bet that he likes it. I'm going to guess you've thought about him doing the same thing to you too, right?"

"I already dreamed about it," Bayley mumbled. "But I have no clue how to talk to him about it, even if I could find the courage to do it. I mean, what would you do?"

"Bay, I love you. You know that. But you really don't need my advice for this. What you need to do is have that courage, have that confidence, to talk to Seth about it. You're with each other. You need to be able to talk about things like this with each other. I know it's not as simple as clicking your fingers and having confidence just like that, but from what you've told us about him, I know he won't say or do anything to make you feel bad or uncomfortable or whatever. Just trust the guy and talk to him, no matter how hard you think it's going to be, okay? It would be great for building trust between you, and your sex life could get amazing real fast."

"Okay," Bayley said. She'd hated every single embarrassing second of the conversation, but she had come out of it with some good advice. Sasha was right; the only way to get totally comfortable with Seth was to trust him with her desires, whether he might find them strange or not. She had no idea if everyone really did have kinks as Sasha had said, or if that had just been an attempt to make her feel less weird, but it had worked, to some extent at least. In an attempt to move the conversation on, she tried a joke. "He drooled on my hand last time too. That's one thing I never really thought about. I hate stuff going on my hands so bad!"

Sasha laughed, which helped Bayley to relax straight away. "I've told you before, you've got OCD about that."

"I do not have OCD!" Bayley said defensively, but she was play acting now. "I just like my hands to be clean, okay?"

"Sounds a lot like OCD to me," Sasha teased, knowing that it was okay to do so now.

Charlotte returned to the locker room then, looking annoyed and shaking her head as she walked into the room. "What's up with you?" Sasha asked her.

"Stupid creative, as per usual," Charlotte said, standing with her hands on her hips. "Congrats on the Commissioner role though, Bayley. That I do like. But the rest of it? Pathetic."

Sasha raised her eyebrows. "Are you going to make us guess?"

"I'm going to win the title back from Bayley and continue as the new top face character in the division. Or, one of them," she clarified, gesturing to Sasha to get across that she was the other one worthy of the description.

"So what's the bad news?" Bayley asked.

"Who am I going to be feuding with for the belt? Dana freaking Brooke. Jesus Christ." Charlotte walked over and kicked her case over out of frustration. "Dana Brooke! What the fuck am I supposed to do, wrestling her no talent ass?"

None of the three women in the locker room liked Dana Brooke, finding her attitude and arrogance to be both infuriating and unwarranted, given the relative lack of talent that she actually had. If anything, she was more dangerous in the ring than she was gifted. Working a long term program with her was definitely a short straw for Charlotte. As the conversation continued, Bayley found herself thinking that while she was sympathetic towards her friend, she was mainly glad that they had something else to talk about other than her sex life. Seth was the only person she wanted to talk to about that from now on, and that would be tough enough.

* * *

Later that week, the Raw roster was blessed with the luxury of two days off. WWE's schedule was still grueling, but thanks to recent changes that Hunter had driven through, mainly in response to the constantly high number of wrestlers suffering injuries over the past couple of years, there were not quite as many house shows to work as there had been at one time. Everyone on the roster was appreciative of the extra free time, no matter how limited it was. Something was better than nothing. The short break had given Bayley the chance to invite Seth to her apartment in Orlando for the first time.

"It's nothing special," she warned him with her usual nervousness as they walked across the building's small parking lot towards the communal entrance. When she had first signed for NXT, she had used all of her savings, plus some money borrowed from her parents to purchase the small ground floor apartment, and there had been no particular need to think about moving elsewhere. The apartment was comfortable enough for one, and she liked living in Florida.

Seth took her hand. "I don't care what the apartment's like. I get to spend two days with you. I'd do it in a cave if I had to. And anyway, I own a small apartment down here too, remember? Next time we get days off, we'll have to stay there."

"I'd like that," Bayley said, looking up at him with another of those smiles that almost stopped Seth's heart in his chest. She let them into the building, then walked up to the door of one of the two apartments on the ground floor. "This one's mine. The one across the hall is Mrs Grant. She's a lovely old lady, lives alone since her husband died. She comes over to check on my place every day when I'm not here, and in return I go over and clean her place for her when I'm home. She's got a bad back and she can't get around well or stand for long. Her sons hardly ever bother with her, so I'm happy to help her out."

"I think that's really sweet of you," Seth said proudly, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead.

"It'll be sweet of you too, when you're helping me with it tomorrow." Considering it a victory that she wasn't blushing, Bayley opened the door to her apartment and lead Seth in.

"You never mentioned anything about cleaning when you invited me here," Seth griped, not entirely joking. Looking around her place, he couldn't see what she'd been nervous about. The apartment seemed like a regular sized, open plan, one bedroom affair with nice decoration and furniture. There was a small kitchen with a breakfast bar, a living area with a couch and a coffee table, and a large flat screen TV on the wall, which had a PS4 hooked up to it. The only essential difference between Bayley's apartment and his own was that hers was impeccably clean, smelling of plug-in air fresheners. If anything, it made him nervous about taking her to his place, which certainly wasn't up to this standard. "You're kidding me, right?" he grinned at her. "This place is really nice."

"I'm glad you like it," Bayley said, pleasantly surprised. "The bedroom is through here, if you want to put your case in there." Leading the way again, she opened one of the two doors that were to the right of the kitchen.

Seth saw that the bedroom was also nicely furnished, including the large double bed. The apartment was a bit small for two people, but he could see himself living here with Bayley. That was jumping the gun at this point though, of course. "I love the furnishing and the decoration. You know, something I've always wanted to do is buy a derelict house or something, restore it myself and bring it up to this kind of standard. I love that kind of thing, and you can make a lot of money at it too."

"Are you good at DIY then?" Bayley asked as she took his case around to the other side of the bed for him.

"I am. My stepdad did a lot of work on property, and I learned a lot from him."

"A man of many hidden talents." Bayley gave him another of those smiles. She walked back around the bed and into his arms, nestling her head against his chest. "I'm so glad to have you here with me," she told him softly.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Seth assured her, delicately stroking her hair, wondering if this was how people felt when they found someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. He certainly imagined that it was. No other girl had made him feel anything like the way Bayley did. She really was a one in a million girl, as emphasised by the way she went out of her way to help out her elderly neighbour whenever she could. "I think it's really sweet you know, what you do for Mrs Grant. You really are an angel, Bayley."

Bayley hugged him tighter, feeling herself tearing up. It was the loving way that he'd said it as much as the actual compliment that had gotten to her. "That's such a nice thing to say," was all she could manage in reply.

They held each other for a minute or so, just enjoying the fact they could do so without anyone or anything disturbing them. Eventually Bayley pulled away and asked, "Would you like some coffee? I have some really nice stuff."

"That would be nice," Seth said, following her out of the bedroom. "This is the bathroom, right?" he asked, pointing at the closed door next to the bedroom.

"Yep."

While Seth was in the bathroom, Bayley got the coffee machine on the go and checked her social media while she waited. She let out a shriek of delight just as Seth walked out of the bathroom a couple of minutes later.

"What's up?" Seth asked, walking into the kitchen to join her.

"Look at this!" Bayley held her phone out to him, nearly bouncing up and down in excitement.

Taking the phone and looking at the screen, Seth saw that a fan had somehow found a picture of a teenage Bayley, and one of him also, complete with short, spiky hair. The two pictures had been joined together, and had a caption which read 'Bayllins before they were Bayllins. New OTP.' Smiling as he handed the phone back, he asked, "Bayllins? That's what we're called, is it? And what does OTP mean, dare I ask?"

"It means we're this person's favourite pairing in the fandom. How could we not be?" she added with a giggle. "And that's before people even realise that we're really together."

"I thought everyone's favourite was Hunter and Stephanie." Seth handed the phone back to her. "Not that they come close to matching up to us of course," he added with a grin.

"Maybe in fifteen years we'll be the new Hunter and Stephanie," Bayley said, laughing now. "Apart from the fact that my family doesn't own the company of course."

"What?" Seth exclaimed in mock horror. "You told me you were the Commissioner? I thought I was with the boss lady."

"Oh, I am the boss lady," Bayley assured him, smiling broadly as she fixed their cups of coffee. "Do you take any sugar or anything?"

"No thank you, just black."

"We even have the same taste in coffee." Bayley turned around and gave Seth yet another of those smiles. It hit him just how happy being around him made her, and it filled him with a sense of pride that he could made her feel as good as made him feel. She handed him his cup and they walked around the living area. The two ill-fated cups of coffee were soon sitting forgotten about on the table while Seth and Bayley made out on the couch.

Half an hour later, Bayley lay stretched out on the couch, in Seth's arms, feeling like the happiest, most contented person in the world. Something that he'd said earlier had stuck in her head and had given her an idea. A large part of her wondered if it was too soon, but it would take time anyway, even if they did decide to do it. "Seth?"

"What's up, angel?"

That melted Bayley's heart, realising that he now had a romantic nickname for her. "What you said earlier about buying a derelict house and restoring it? I'd really, really love to do that with you. I know it's too soon right now to talk about moving in together, but it would obviously take us a long time to restore a house anyway."

Seth had always dreamed about doing exactly that, with a woman he loved, and he knew that he loved Bayley, even if they hadn't said it to each other yet. Taking a wreck of a building and turning it into a beautiful home for themselves would be a wonderful experience. "I'd love to do that too," he said, stroking her hair again, a habit that he didn't even realise he'd picked up. "The best place to buy something like that is at auction. We'd need to the place first though to see exactly what needed doing. We don't want to end up with a money pit. Then of course we need to attend the auction."

"That's going to be hard to do with our schedule," Bayley thought out loud.

"Leave it to me," Seth said. "When Hunter first came to me with the idea for my heel turn, he said, 'I need you to turn heel. I'll owe you one.' I haven't cashed in my 'one' yet, so maybe I'll do it to get us a week off when we need it. We can look for properties online of course. Would you want to stay in Florida?"

"I really don't mind," Bayley replied honestly. "Obviously I'm not on NXT now, so I guess I have no reason to stay in Florida. Going back to California would be nice, but I really don't mind. What about you?"

Seth had already put a lot of thought into the subject before he'd met Bayley. "I did a lot of thinking and research into it actually. My plan was to go back to Iowa. There's a city out near Des Moines. Waukee, it's called. It's supposed to be a really nice place to live, and property there is excellent value for money."

"We should go there next time we have time off then, see what it's like."

"I don't want to feel like you're just going along with my plans though," Seth said, feeling guilty. "We're talking about moving to a state that you've never even lived in."

Bayley sat up and looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry. You think it's too fast, don't you? You're right. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's not that at all," Seth said, taking her hand. "I just feel bad about you just going along with what I had in mind before I met you. Just because I wanted to buy a place out there doesn't mean that you have to want that too. If you'd rather go back to Cali we could look at options out there."

"Seth, all I want is to be with you. I don't care if some people would say it's too soon to think about that kind of thing. All I know is you make me happy in a way that I've never known before. I never expected to find someone like you. Plus I have no real ties to Florida, and I'm used to not seeing my family very often. Honestly, we get along better that way anyway. If Waukee is as nice as you say, I'd be more than happy to make a home there with you. Like you said to me earlier, I'd live with you in a cave if I had to."

Seth came so close to telling Bayley that he loved her at that moment, but no, not yet. "I never expected to find anyone like you either. I'm luckiest dude in the world."

They kissed again, and for the moment property searches were the last thing on their minds.


	12. Chapter 12

Lying beside Bayley, trying to get his breath back, Seth knew that now was the time to risk bringing up his girlfriend's little fetish, if that's what it was. Unsurprisingly on their first night together in her apartment, they'd just had sex in her bed for the first time, and following Roman's advice, Seth had let Bayley ride him again. Sure enough, as her pleasure he begun to build, she had clamped her hand over his mouth and pinned him down to the mattress as much as she could. It was kind of a turn on for him on too, but not to the extent that it obviously was for her.

"Oh, baby," Bayley breathed, lying on her side next to him, the ecstasy still present in her voice.

Seth didn't fail to notice that it was the first time she had used a romantic nickname for him. After rolling over onto his side to face her, he brushed some loose strands of hair away from her face. Beautiful. That was the only word that came close to describing her. Trying his best not to feel nervous, and reminding himself to keep his voice gentle and reassuring so as not to upset or offend her, he went for it. "You really like that, huh? Covering my mouth I mean."

"I'm sorry," Bayley began, cheeks reddening instantly.

"No," Seth cut in quickly. "You don't have to be sorry about it. Not at all. That's not why I mentioned it. I'm not uncomfortable with it or anything like that, in fact it's kind of a turn on for me too. I just wanted to talk to you about what you like, and maybe why you like it, that's all. We need to trust each other, and we need to be able to talk about these things with each other without being embarrassed."

"I wish it was that easy." Bayley had known that this conversation was going to have to happen too, and after speaking to Sasha about it, she knew that it was a good thing. Knowing those things was one thing, actually having the conversation was quite another. "Honestly, I don't even really know why I like it. It's just something I've always had fantasies about. You must think I'm really weird?"

Leaning forward, Seth kissed her gently on the lips. "No, angel, you're not weird. As I said, I want to find out exactly what it is that you like. I mean, would you enjoy it if I covered your mouth? Or is it just you doing it to me that you like?"

Looking into his eyes, Bayley could see that what he'd said was true. This wasn't about judging her; it wasn't about him thinking that she was a freak; it was about wanting them both to be totally open and comfortable with each other, just the way two people in a relationship should be. If he was willing to be open with her and accepting of her desires, she had to have the courage to talk to him, no matter how embarrassing it might be. "I'd like you to do it to me too. Actually, I've already dreamed about you doing it." It surprised her how easily the admission came out, once she actually forced herself to say it. It finally started to sink in that talking to her man in the privacy of her apartment was truly nothing to fear.

"And you like to pin me down too, so you'd like me to do that to you?"

"Yes. Yes, I would. I think it's the control thing that turns me on. Either being completely in control, or having no control at all. The idea of either extreme just does something for me. If you're pinned down and you can't talk, you really can't do anything." The thought occurred to her that Seth might get freaked out if he thought she was going to start talking about breaking out whips and chains or something like that. That kind of thing didn't appeal to her at all. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea though. I'm not into crazy stuff like whipping you or chaining you up or something. That's definitely not my thing."

"I'm glad," Seth said, with some honesty of his own. That kind of thing would have been a bit much for him. "But I'd be okay if you wanted to tie my hands, for example."

Bayley felt herself getting turned on by the image of that in her head. "I'd really like that, and I'd like you to do that to me too. I've thought about it a lot, but I've never actually done it or had it done to me before. Actually, I've never trusted anyone enough to even talk about it before. Part of me can't believe I'm talking about it now, honestly. I just know that with you it's okay."

That meant a lot to Seth. Knowing that Bayley was an even shyer person than he was, he realised that the conversation couldn't be easy for her at all. He kissed her again, this time on the forehead. "You can trust me with this. You can trust me with anything. I think it's a good thing in a lot of ways that we're talking about it, but trust is the main reason. Doing the kind of things we're talking about will help to build even more trust between us."

"Promise me that you're really comfortable with this; that you're not just saying it because you know it's what I like," Bayley said, studying his reaction carefully.

"I'm comfortable with it," Seth said, leaving no room for doubt. "The only thing that might bother me about it is worrying that I might hurt you somehow. I'd hate myself if I did that."

This time Bayley reached her head forward and planted a kiss on his lips. "I'm shy, baby, but I'm not delicate. You're not going to break me. I don't want you to be too gentle with me, that would take the edge off the enjoyment."

Even though they'd only just had sex, Seth was still fired up and ready for more. Just having Bayley lying naked beside him would have been enough to ensure that, without the conversation adding more fuel to the flames. "Why don't you tell me about the dream you had, and maybe we can try it out?"

"I've had more than one," Bayley admitted nervously, breaking eye contact with him.

Seth used a finger to gently lift her chin, making her look at him. "Please don't be embarrassed, angel. I love that you've dreamed about me, about us. Tell me about one of them."

Summoning all of her courage, Bayley whispered, "I'd rather we just did it, if that's okay?"

"Okay, sure," Seth agreed, wanting to do whatever made her the most at ease, reasoning that after this talk and acting out one of her fantasies, they would both be a lot more comfortable about it in future.

"There is one other thing I need to tell you, which you're definitely going to think is stupid and weird. I don't want to offend you by saying it, so I need you to understand that this a thing that I've always had and it's nothing against you."

"What is it?" Seth asked, narrowing his eyes in confusion, unsure about what to expect.

"I've always been freaked out by getting anything, uh, dirty is the only word I can think of, on myself, especially my hands. I can never do any cleaning or wash dishes without wearing gloves. If something were to go on my hands I would totally freak. Sasha always gives me grief about it, trying to tell me I have OCD. I don't have OCD, it's just that, again, I know it sounds really stupid to you..." She stopped talking when she saw Seth start grinning.

"You're saying I drooled on your hand and it freaked you out?" There was no way he could stop himself from chuckling as he said it, even though he knew it might embarrass her.

Surprisingly even to Bayley herself, she was able to laugh about it too. "I'm saying anything going on my hands freaks me out, but yes, you drooling on my hand freaked me out. I told you I'm weird."

Glad to hear her laugh, Seth pressed on with another quip. "Yeah? Well maybe I don't like your sweaty palms anyway."

"Fine," Bayley huffed indignantly, playing along as she got off the bed and walked towards the bedroom door. "You stay right there, I'll be back."

Left alone for a minute, Seth congratulated himself on how well what could have been a very awkward discussion had gone. Bayley had opened up to him. She trusted him, and that made him feel so good. He'd never had fantasies about the kinds of minor bondage games that she liked, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't enjoy them. Roman had said that he'd been with a girl in the past who had liked similar things, and he'd said the same thing that Bayley had about control being the driving force behind it. She had also made it clear that she didn't want him to be overly gentle with her. It made sense; one of the people involved being half-hearted about whatever they were doing at the time would ruin the experience. Then the thought came to him that maybe she would like to add some role play into the mix once they were more at ease with each other. It was worth suggesting at least.

Bayley walked back into the room carrying a long black scarf and a pair of white latex gloves. "You don't mind if I wear these then? I usually use them for handling raw meat."

"It's what you're going to with the scarf that bothers me," Seth said, grinning as he sat up on the bed, congratulating himself for avoiding any of the obvious jokes.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Bayley snapped on one of the gloves, then worked her other hand into the second.

"I just had a thought while you were out there. You can obviously say no if you want, but I thought maybe we could add some role play to these games, in the future I mean."

"I thought that too, but I felt too nervous to ask. I know, you're going to say I don't need to be, and I know I don't need to be, but it happens anyway."

"So that's a yes?" Seth asked as she sat down on the bed beside him.

"Yes. In fact we can maybe start a little bit now. Sit in front of me," she told him, standing a pillow up against the frame at the top of the bed to rest her back on.

"Okay." Seth moved over and sat in front of her, one of her shapely legs stretched out on either side of him, as she'd requested, feeling some nervousness himself now due to not knowing exactly what she wanted to do. He'd told her to trust him enough times, now he had to give her that same trust.

Bayley picked up the scarf and stretched it out to its full length. "Hands behind." Again, Seth did as she asked. He couldn't help starting to feel turned on as she wrapped the scarf twice around his wrists and then tied it off. It was tight enough to keep him secure, but not uncomfortably so. "Now trust me, baby," she whispered into his ear.

"I trust you." Seth only just managing to finish the short sentence before her gloved hand covered his mouth. The latex felt better against his lips than a sweaty palm, but the smell of the material wasn't very pleasant. Her other arm wrapped around his chest, holding him close to her. Lastly, she wrapped her legs around him as best she could, using them to also keep him pinned against her.

"Shhh," Bayley told him, whispering into his ear again. "Now, don't make a sound, or things might get a bit painful."

There was an almost taunting quality to the order, which Seth found somehow attractive. This wasn't the shy Bayley, and he liked that. She then began to lightly kiss the side of his neck. Her delicate touch tickled his neck, and that, when added to the pleasure of being kissed and held tightly against her, plus the difficulty of breathing with his mouth covered, soon made him let out a small involuntary moan.

"Shhh," Bayley repeated, taking a little nibble at the side of his neck in between her kisses.

Seth moaned again, mainly in surprise. Straight away, Bayley bit him again, slightly harder this time, and he knew now what the game was. She would bite him, he would moan in pain, and the punishment for that would be more biting. It was a vicious circle, so all he could do was try to deny her what she wanted - that in itself was part of the game.

Finally acting out a fantasy that she'd had for years had Bayley turned on to an extent that she could hardly believe. Seth's sudden lack of reaction to her kisses started to frustrate her, until she realised that it was because he'd figured out what the game was and was now trying to defy her. He was going to make her work to get a reaction out of him. That was even better, as far as she was concerned. She clamped her hand even tighter over his mouth and started sucking on his neck, knowing that he would end up with bruising as a result, but at that moment she didn't care about that. Getting him to moan was all that mattered.

Despite how hard he was trying, Seth couldn't keep quiet for long. The next time he groaned in pleasure, Bayley capitalised by biting him much harder than she had before. This time it genuinely hurt, and Seth cried out in pain into her palm and instinctively tried to wriggle free. His efforts were fruitless, especially with his hands bound.

They proceeded like this for several minutes. Seth's moans and attempts to get free were almost like a drug for Bayley, who knew that she would never forget this first time. It was for that reason that she was sweating and breathing heavily in between her kisses and bites. However, much as she didn't want to let up, they had reached the point where she could tell that Seth was getting short of breath because of his squirming and protesting. Not wanting him to become uncomfortable with the experience, she stopping biting him and slightly relaxed her grip on his mouth, shifting so that she was now cradling his head against her shoulder. It was only then, as her incredible rush began to subside that she realised how much her hand hurt from cramp, and how much it was sweating inside the glove. No wonder Seth had complained about her hand being directly over his mouth. "Did I hurt you, baby?" she asked him softly.

"Nmmm," Seth mumbled, shaking his head to the small extent that he could, even though it was lie.

"Do you want me to take my hand away?"

"Ymmph."

"Are you sure?" Bayley asked, teasing him and brushing away the hair that had fallen over his face, before she finally relented, ending the game by taking her hand off his mouth and releasing her other arm from around him.

"Ahh, Jesus Christ, my neck," Seth gasped out as soon as he was able to, as well as trying to get his breath back. Her biting had been a great turn on, but it was also ridiculously painful. He dreaded to think what kind of bruising he was going to be left with.

"Sorry baby," Bayley said, now back out of character, flexing her hand to try and relieve the pain in it. "That was incredible though. I'm so turned on right now, its untrue. Did you enjoy it? If not, I won't ask to do it again."

"No, I enjoyed it," Seth assured her. "I enjoyed it a lot, it's just painful. Can you untie my hands?" He sat up properly so that she could work on the scarf more easily.

"Yeah, of course." Bayley undid the knot in the scarf, unwrapped it from around his wrists and tossed it away onto the floor.

Seth flexed his wrists, ran his hands through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to fix it, then moved over to lie on his back beside where she was sitting. Still recovering, he sucked in a deep breath and blew it back out. "Oh wow," he sighed in satisfaction, closing his eyes.

"I'm not done yet." Bayley's confidence was sky high now, so much so that she didn't even consider the fact herself. She crawled down the bed, intent on giving him one more reason to remember the night.

A few minutes later, Bayley had made for the bathroom while Seth lay there in the afterglow, having pulled the blanket over himself after she left. He felt like the most contended man in the world, safe in the knowledge that there would be no more shyness or awkwardness in their sex life. As he'd hoped, they'd built up a lot of trust in each other. All of the sex as well as the flight they'd had to take to get to Orlando that morning had certainly left him feeling very tired.

Bayley was about to say something when she walked back into the room, but instead she just smiled, seeing that there was no point. Her boyfriend had fallen sound asleep while she had been gone. It seemed like so long ago that she had first climbed into a bed with Seth and wrapped an arm around him. When she did it this time, it wasn't because she needed comfort from him, it was because she loved him for making her feel happy and loved in ways that she had never imagined were possible.

* * *

 _A/N: Boy, this chapter was a challenge to write. I felt that it needed to be done to show Seth and Bayley building up that level of trust with each other, but it wasn't easy to do under a T rating. If you guys would like to see more scenes like this, let me know in the reviews. I'll consider writing more like this in future, if there's interest._


	13. Chapter 13

"Seth."

The voice was trying to intrude on Seth's sleep. His instinct was to ignore it.

"Seth, wake up."

With a reluctant groan, Seth tentatively opened his eyes, only fully realising at that moment that the voice was Bayley's.

"Good morning, sleepy. I made you breakfast."

Fighting off the fog of sleep, Seth saw that she was standing by his side of the bed, with a delightful, warm smile on her face and a tray in her hands. On the tray was a plate of fried food, a smaller plate of toast and a large mug of coffee. The food was stupidly unhealthy, but it looked and smelled amazing.

"I was up early so I thought I'd bring you breakfast in bed. I hope you like fried food? I know it's a cheat meal, but..." She allowed her voice to trail off as Seth sat up, arranging his pillows to support his back.

"Thank you." Seth had to yawn before he could further show his gratitude with a smile. "That's really sweet of you. I like fried food from time to time, and that smells amazing."

Once he was sitting corfotably, Bayley set the tray down on his lap, then leaned down for a quick kiss. "I'll leave you to enjoy it while I clean up the kitchen."

As well as the food and the coffee, Seth caught the smell of Bayley's shampoo as she leaned down with the tray. She had already showered before making the breakfast. "I didn't even hear you get up, let alone cooking."

Bayley turned in the doorway and smiled. "You're a heavy sleeper, that's for sure. It's really cute, honestly."

"This was a really sweet to do," Seth said, gesturing to the breakfast, which consisted of bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns and two slices of toast.

"Well, get on and eat it before it goes cold."

Not needing to be told twice, Seth picked up the knife and fork that she had brought in on the tray and started to attack the food, while Bayley headed back out to the kitchen.

As he ate, Seth found himself wondering what exactly he'd done to get so lucky. Thinking back over the time since that first time he'd really spoken to Bayley in catering, when he'd deliberately made a mess of his shirt in the hope that she'd laugh at him, he decided that he'd never been happier. Not only did they share so much in common, his girlfriend was the kindest and most loving girl he'd ever been with, not to mention the fact that she was beautiful. He could only hope that she'd meant what she'd said about wanting them to buy a house and restore it so that one day they would live together in a home of their own. It was definitely what he wanted, he was once hundred per-cent sure about that.

Out in kitchen, Bayley was having similar thoughts. The past week or so had literally been the happiest time of her life. Her natural shyness and unusual interests had meant that she'd never had much of a social life, and had never been in a long-term relationship. Her parents had always told her that the right man was out there somewhere, a man who would love her the way she was without wanting to change her. And now Seth had come into her life; the perfect man she had always dreamed of, but never expected to find.

She didn't care at all that some people would say they were rushing things to the extreme by talking about buying a house already. Those people couldn't know how she felt about Seth. They couldn't understand that she had met the man of her dreams, or that she knew so soon that she wanted to spend her life with him. The idea they'd had about buying a derelict house and restoring it was a good one in that regard too. It would be months at the very least before they would have the finished home to move into together.

Judging by how Seth had talked about buying the house with her, she thought that he felt the same way about her. But what if he had second thoughts about it? What if, after having slept on it, he felt that they were moving too fast and it wasn't yet the time to be thinking about looking for a house?

* * *

"You cook amazing food," Seth said in awe when he walked out of the bedroom fifteen minutes later, carrying the tray. There was barely a hint of the breakfast left on the plate, which told Bayley as much as his compliment had done.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Bayley had been tidying the living area. She walked around into the kitchen behind Seth while he unloaded the dirty items from the tray, setting them down next to the sink. She wrapped her arms around his stomach from behind, then kissed the hideous looking bruising on the side of his neck. Pleasingly for her, he was wearing jeans, but no T-shirt. When he was dressed, she hoped that the mark she'd left on him would be hidden below his collar. "I'm sorry I bruised you so bad. I feel awful now."

"Don't," Seth said simply, covering her hands with his own. "I enjoyed it, and bruises heel. Anyway, maybe it'll be me biting you next time."

"I'd like that, baby."

Seth broke free of her embrace as gently as he could, then turned around so that he could hug her properly. They spent a couple of minutes in each other's arms, kissing passionately. "If only every day could start like this," Seth said eventually.

"I know." Bayley nestled her head against his chest, something that she was already getting used to doing. It just felt so nice to be held by him. "While I was cleaning up, I was thinking about what we talked about yesterday, about the house. I meant what I said about it. I want us to work together to make our own home, and I want to start as soon as we can. It's crazy fast, I know, but..."

"It doesn't matter to me how fast it is." Seth stroked her hair, something that he too was getting used to. "What other people might think doesn't matter to me. I think you know when you've found the right person, and that's how I feel about you."

That gave Bayley a fluttering sensation in her stomach that she had to assume was what it felt like to be in love. Lifting her head from his chest, she looked into his eyes and saw that yes, Seth loved her too, whether they had said it to each other yet or not. "You really mean that, baby?"

"Of course." Seth kissed her gently on the lips.

"I feel that way about you too. You make me happy like I thought no one ever would, or even could. Why don't we go on my laptop and have a look at the city you told me about. Waukee, right?"

"We can look at other places too. Just because I wanted to move there doesn't mean..."

"Shhh," Bayley told him, putting a finger to his lips. "I meant it when I said I don't mind where we move to. Let's have a look on the laptop, and we can use our couple of days off next week to go up there if you like, instead of coming back down here to your place?"

"Sounds great," Seth said, smiling. "Why don't you go fire up the laptop, I'll put some more coffee on."

For the next hour, they sat together on the couch, cuddling while the looked over websites and images relating to Waukee, Iowa. Seth added in his own opinions, having already visited the city once after singling it out as one of the places he would like to move to. Picturesque and quiet looking was how Bayley would have described some of the images of the suburbs that Seth pulled up. Impressive large houses, in nice locations, at good prices, reasonable proximity to the airport in Des Moines - because travel was a huge part of their jobs; good schools - because you never knew what the future might hold. She could definitely see why Seth liked the look of Waukee. She liked it too. It was definitely worth a visit to look around in person. For now, there was nothing wrong with browsing property. Who knew what might be available?

"Do you know where to look for the kind of house we're looking for? You said the best thing to do is buy at auction, right?"

"That's right," Seth nodded. "I'll show you the kind of thing I mean. You can get places dirt cheap if you're prepared to do a lot of work. Most people aren't; they just want to buy somewhere, sell the place they're in, and move. We don't need to do that. I've saved up a quite a bit over the last couple of years."

That was another thing that worried Bayley. Seth had been on the main roster for years, and a main event guy for a couple of them, making money appropriate to his status. By contrast, she'd only just been called up from NXT, didn't make a great deal of money yet, and had almost no savings. "Seth, I uh, don't really have much money. I can sell this place, but that's all I really have to my name."

Seth felt like saying that she could just contribute whatever she could, but he was smarter than. Firstly, he knew that Bayley wouldn't accept that. He wouldn't have if the situation was reversed. It would leave her feeling guilty all the time. Secondly, he knew that while he really couldn't imagine things not working out for them, anything was possible. If he was going to put in the money, he couldn't risk possibly losing the house if they did break up. This was why most couples didn't jump into the idea of buying somewhere together this quickly, choosing instead to wait until they'd lived together somewhere else or rented a place for a while first, so that they felt confident that they wouldn't end up separating. Seth decided that he felt confident of that anyway, early stages of the relationship or not.

"I'm sure we can work around that somehow," he said thoughtfully. "Let's say for argument's sake I buy us a house at auction for two hundred grand. It should be fairly simple to have something drawn up that says I start out owning it one hundred per-cent, and you work your way up to owning fifty per-cent as you pay me back one hundred thousand. That's what comes to mind, anyway."

"But what about all the costs of the work, furniture, all of that? There's no way I could pay half of that either. What I need to do is contribute half of what the house costs us by the time we're finished renovating it. What if I signed something saying that I agree not to claim back more money than I've put in, if it doesn't work out. We'd need to keep records of who paid for what, and how much was spent, but that's not too hard to do. All you really need is a spreadsheet."

"Sounds fair enough," Seth decided, not wanting to get bogged down with money talk. He returned his attention to the laptop, heading to Google to run another search. "How about we have a look at some places now, see what's coming up for auction? You never know what you might find. I've already let several places go that I came close to buying. Honestly, I think there was part of me that didn't look forward to working on a place by myself."

Bayley found that adorable somehow. She took his free hand and squeezed it tightly. "You won't have to now. You will have to teach me DIY though," she added with a chuckle. "I know literally nothing about any of it."

"I'm your man," Seth said, meaning that he had the knowledge to teach her.

"I know," Bayley replied, thinking of an entirely different meaning as she squeezed his hand again.

* * *

Monday morning was unsurprisingly busy at Orlando International Airport when Seth and Bayley walked into the entrance area. It only seemed like a matter of hours since they'd walked out in the opposite direction, looking forward to their free time at her apartment. Now it was back to the grind. They were both very smartly dressed; Bayley because she had decided to get used to traveling in her character of Commissioner Martinez ahead of time, and Seth because it would look strange for her to be wearing a business suit if he had jeans and a T-shirt on.

"I can't believe those two days went by so fast," Bayley sighed. "Usually I can't wait for Raw, but I didn't want to leave today."

"I can't believe it either. That must have been the fastest weekend in history." Seth was walking alongside her, holding her hand. "I even enjoyed the two hours we spent cleaning Mrs Grant's apartment yesterday."

"Liar. You didn't enjoy it at all," Bayley giggled as they walked over to the check the departure screens. Thankfully, their flight was shown as on time.

"She's a lovely old lady though. I can definitely see why you like to help her out." Noting the number of the check-in desk that they needed to go to, Seth lead the way.

Bayley had to change the subject because she saw a couple of wrestling fans up ahead, both wearing New Day T-shirts. The two guys had just joined the line that they were heading for, obviously also flying out for Raw. There was no chance of not being noticed. "Fans up ahead," she pointed out quietly.

Interacting with fans was something that Seth tried to do his best with, unlike some people on the roster. He remembered being a fan himself in his younger years, and he knew how disappointed he would have been if he had met one of his favourites, only to be snubbed or spoken to rudely by them. Besides, without the fans there would be no WWE. Just like any other business, they needed their customers. With the revision to Bayley's character, there was no longer an obligation to be rude in the name of being in character. She now had a different character to get used to. "Let's see businesswoman Bayley in action then. Can't call you Commissioner yet, can I?"

"Not yet, but I need to start getting the character down. I'm starting not to feel quite so uncomfortable wearing suits at least."

"You look so hot in them too," Seth said, only loud enough for her to hear.

As they joined the back of the line for the check-in desk, Bayley wondered if a Commissioner should blush like she was. Almost certainly not. A good thing then that Seth wouldn't be making comments like that to her out in the ring.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for one of the two fans to notice them. Seth saw him look over, eyes lingering for a second while he asked himself if that was Seth Rollins and Bayley. Then he turned to his friend, brother, whatever, to pass on the news. Next came the 'shall we go up to them?'. Predictably the answer ended up being yes, and the two fans worked their way back through the few other people between them in the line to reach where he and Bayley were standing.

"Seth? Bayley?" one of the fans ventured, clearly unsure what the reaction might be. "Any chance we could, uh, get a picture?"

"Hello gentlemen," Bayley replied before Seth could.

The formal greeting was perfect for her character; so much so that Seth had to try hard to make sure that he didn't smile at it. She topped it off by shaking hands with them. Watching her, Seth could see what Vince McMahon had seen when he'd had the idea of making her Commissioner. It was hard to put into words, but she just looked the part. It was a special kind of natural talent that she was obviously blessed with. Playing along in kind, Seth also shook hands with the two fans and told them that they could get a picture if they were quick. One of the fans asked one of the other people in the line to take a picture, then all four of them posed, or rather the fans posed, while Seth and Bayley just stood and smiled. Hugging or posing were not in character for Bayley now.

"Thanks guys," the other fan said with a smile, then they made their way back to their original place in line.

"How did I do?" Bayley asked quietly.

"Really well," Seth replied, looking at her with a smile. "Very professional. I bet they're over there now talking about how we're exactly the way were are on TV."

"Well that's what Vince wants. I'd rather just get to the point where I am the Commissioner now. It feels like I'm stuck in between characters, playing some kind of waiting game."

"I understand what you mean. It's only for a couple of weeks though, until Clash of Champions. They'll have Steph lead the promo work until then, building up to her leaving."

That reminded Bayley of something else that made her feel guilty. Stephanie's status as Commissioner was going to be put on the line against Mick Foley's status as General Manager in the Clash of Champions main event, which was to be Seth against Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Championship. The stipulation was going to be that if Finn lost, Mick had to leave, or if Seth lost, Stephanie was the one who had to go. It seemed to Bayley that Seth was having to drop his title to get her character started, and she didn't like that. "I wish you didn't have to drop your title for me," she said, looking down at the ground.

"Chin up, angel." Seth gently used his finger to lift her chin, making her look at him. "I don't have a problem with dropping to Finn, especially for this storyline. Being the guy who's dating the boss is pretty cool. And anyway, if I know McMahon, he'll have the belt back on me before too long. He loves heels to carry the title while the faces try their best to win it while being screwed over."

"I'm not really the boss," Bayley pointed out with a hint of a smile.

"Maybe not, but you need to get used to acting like it. I can't wait for the first time you have to read someone the riot act."

"I think I'm going to have to speak to Hunter about that. I need to put some practice into that kind of thing. Shouting at people really isn't me at all."

"I'll remember that," Seth said with a cheeky grin. The cute little giggle that he got in response was just perfect.

"Maybe I'll just practice on you instead."


	14. Chapter 14

"And she woke me up by bringing me a dirty fried breakfast to eat in bed. It was fantastic."

In their locker room before Raw, Seth was in the middle of telling Roman about his weekend at Bayley's apartment, although he had left out mentioning the sex, kinky or otherwise. Roman had listened with a smile on his face, remembering back to when he and his wife had been at that early stage of their relationship. He couldn't remember ever getting a fried breakfast in bed though.

"But can she cook?" Roman asked, implying with his tone that the gesture would have meant a lot less if the food had sucked.

"Oh, it was amazing," Seth assured him as he started to unbutton his short to get changed into his ring gear. "I'd eat one every day, if it didn't mean I'd get fat of course."

"And if Bayley didn't murder you for asking her too cook every day."

"That too," Seth grinned, then took his shirt off and hung it up on a hanger.

"What the hell is that!" Roman exclaimed, then burst out laughing.

Seth realised his mistake immediately. His friend could hardly have missed the bruising on the side of his neck. Left no other real option, he tried his best to shrug it off. "Bayley bit me."

"Bit you? It looks like she tried to fucking eat you!" Roman laughed even harder after looking again at the state of Seth's neck. It seemed more than obvious that he and Bayley had managed to get past any awkwardness about her preferences in the bedroom. It was a good sign for their relationship that they had been able to talk about something that could have lead to complications, and Roman was pleased for them about that. None of that meant that he wasn't to have a good laugh about it though. There was only so much leeway he could give Seth where that was concerned, and turning up covered in bruises and bite marks was way past the point of what he could overlook.

"Yeah, you laugh," Seth snapped, feigning irritation. "You wish you were getting the kind of sex I'm getting."

Pointedly looking at Seth's neck for a third time, Roman shook his head. "No, I don't think I do to be honest." Then he collapsed into laughter again. When he eventually got himself under control he said, "You'd better get one of the girls in makeup on that before you go out there. The last thing you want is that thing going out there on TV."

"Good idea," Seth conceded, trying to hide his embarrassment. Although he knew that a healthy sex life was nothing to really be embarrassed about, even if it got a little kinky from time to time, he felt uncomfortable being laughed at nonetheless.

Roman saw that he'd made Seth uncomfortable, which hadn't really been his intention. Apparently his friend wasn't quite at the point where he could laugh about his new relationship as yet. "So how about the rest of the weekend?" he asked, encouraging Seth to go on.

Seth had already spent some time on the flight earlier that day, trying to decide if it was a good idea to tell Roman about the fact that he and Bayley were going to buy a house. On balance, he'd decided to avoid it for now. It would be hard for anyone else to understand just how he felt about his girlfriend, and why they wanted to do what they were doing. "We just chilled out, really. Sometimes it can be nice just to have a day to do nothing apart from relax, you know?"

"I get that," Roman nodded. "It's always great to get home for a couple of days, especially when you have a family."

That was a perfect opportunity for Seth to change the focus of the conversation from his time with Bayley to Roman's couple of days with his wife and daughter, so he gladly did exactly that.

* * *

Bayley had felt like she she was at the learning tree while she had stood in the ring during Raw's opening segment, watching and listening carefully as Stephanie McMahon tore into Mick Foley and Finn Balor, thoroughly emasculating both of them. Stephanie really did have her character down to a fine art, a fact which impressed the hell out of Bayley. There were some similarities with the role that she would soon be playing too, so it would have been stupid not to try and learn what she could, while Stephanie was still around. Clash of Champions was coming up fast, and when that event was over Stephanie would be taking time off the road.

It had already been decided that Bayley's character would be a very iron-willed Commissioner who believed that her principles and policies were right, regardless of what anyone who opposed her might think or say. If those people chose to voice their opposition, she needed to master the art of not just firing back at them, but absolutely destroying whatever counter-argument they might put forward. That was the very essence of the character. Even those characters who didn't like her, or even hated her, should still respect her for her strength of character and for having the courage of her convictions that the way she was running Monday Night Raw was the best way to make it a successful product that would destroy Smackdown in the ratings.

The subtle difference between this new character and Stephanie's current one, Bayley had decided, was that she would not deal out personal insults to people as Stephanie often did. Her method would to be to argue in favour of her character's points of view, and in doing so, make a mockery of the ideas of those who looked at things in a different way. Mick Foley would be the foremost of those people - Vince McMahon had already confirmed that. Creative would need to write her storylines and segments in such a way that her management and policies were often up for debate, or at least discussion. The Chairman had wanted a political figure, so that was what he would get.

That was the theory anyway, which didn't trouble Bayley at all. It was the execution that she had issues with, and needed to work on. For that reason, as they walked through the curtain to the backstage area at the end of the segment, Bayley told Seth that she would come find him before her match later in the night, which he would be at ringside for. She then hurried after Stephanie, who had quickly walked away in the direction of the production office. "Stephanie? Do you have a minute, please?"

"Sure," Stephanie said pleasantly, stopping and turning to face her. Bayley felt a little relieved by that reaction, having found Stephanie to be a little cold and standoffish at times in the past. The Vincess, people called her, and Bayley thought that the name was appropriate. "What can I do for you, Bayley?"

Bayley reached where Stephanie was standing, forcing herself to maintain eye contact even though her nerves tried their best to make her look down at the ground. That was a habit that she definitely needed to get out of her system fast, before she started to play the role of Commissioner. Shyness definitely wasn't a requirement. Talking to one of the bosses wasn't an easy thing for her to do though. "I was thinking about my new character while we were out there, while I watched you laying into Mick and Finn. You play your character so well, and I just, uh, wanted to ask how you do it, really. I mean, you play a bitch so well."

Stephanie stepped over the side of the hallway so that they could speak a little more privately, and also to make sure that other people could get by. The backstage area was a hive of activity as usual. "You're not comfortable with playing your new character?"

The expression on the boss's face was difficult to read, which set off Bayley's nerves again. Was that supposed to be a simple question, a trap, or was she going to be judged on her response? All she could really do was be honest. That had to count for something at least, right? "I'm comfortable with the idea of it. I like the idea. It's actually being out there in the ring as the Commissioner that I'm struggling with. Going out there and being the voice of authority, speaking about my policies and decisions with such conviction. Well, it's just not me, the same as being a horrible bitch isn't you."

"Thank you, Bayley," Stephanie chuckled, her nose wrinkling slightly in amusement. "I'm glad you don't think I'm a horrible bitch. It sounds to me like what you're doing is looking at this from the wrong angle. I saw your promo last week, and there's real talent there. I can see what Hunter always saw in you. The first week you were a heel too, you went out there, opened the show and delivered the promo that was asked of you. You can do it. The problem you have is one of confidence, and that's because you're thinking about your character as a character. That's not how you're going to do your best work."

"I guess you're right," Bayley said, feeling a little chastised by what Stephanie had said. Despite her best efforts, she found herself looking down, breaking eye contact.

Seeing that grated on Stephanie's nerves a little. She didn't have much time for weakness in WWE's employees. It was a difficult business, in which you could only really succeed if you were both strong and talented. Taking a brief moment to decide what to say allowed her the time to consider the praise that Hunter had for Bayley though. His opinion was that in Bayley, they had a rare talent on their hands, a woman who could be at the top of women's wrestling for years to come. Knowing that her husband had a keen eye as a talent scout, Stephanie had to trust his judgement, and she was willing to concede that a lot had been thrown at Bayley in the short time since she'd left NXT for the main roster. Some people took a while to adjust to significant changes, and there was nothing overtly wrong with that. Maybe rather than being critical, the right thing to do was help Bayley with some advice that might bring the best out of her in her new role?

"My advice to you, Bayley, is that you need to stop thinking about your character. Don't think about 'what would my character do?', no, you need to _be_ your character. When you step through that curtain in a couple of weeks, you _are_ the Commissioner of Raw. You've already done that with your hugger gimmick. I know that was much closer to your real personality, and that made it a lot easier, but the principle is the same. I've read some of what's being written for your character, so I know what the idea behind it is. When you go out there, you are the powerful businesswoman who knows how she wants Raw to be run. You have clear, firm ideas on your policies, you have your opinions on the people who work for you, and you have mistrust and contempt for those on the other side of the fence over on Smackdown. You need to get to the point where if you were to find yourself in the ring with Daniel Bryan or my brother, you actually feel those emotions towards them." Bayley was now looking back up at her again, and she saw that she had her replacement as Commissioner hooked with her speech now. Good. At least she was smart enough to listen to good advice when she was being given it.

"Another example," Stephanie continued. "Let's say that Raw has a bad week in the ratings. Maybe Smackdown have some big main event that pulls in the numbers. That needs to effect you personally. You need to feel angered by that, because it makes you look bad. You want go find my dad and ask him why Smackdown had a better show than Raw."

"I really don't think that would be a good idea," Bayley said, wide eyed.

"I didn't say actually do it," Stephanie grinned. "I said you need to feel like you want to do it. That's when you'll know you've truly become your character, and _that's_ when you'll do your best work. You mentioned how I go out there and talk to Mick or some of the other guys like that out there? Simple. I go out there thinking that I'm better than them, and that I have no respect for them. That's my character. Of course, when we're not on camera, I love Mick as much as anyone else. If anything, that's the toughest part. Once you become one with your character, turning it off can be the hard part."

Taking in all of what she had been told as best she could, Bayley nodded her appreciation. "Thanks, Stephanie. I appreciate you taking the time to go over that with me. You've given me some things to think about for sure. Is there, uh, anything else that you think might help?"

"Hmmm," Stephanie said, thinking. "Your character is a political figure. You could maybe do some research into successful female politicians, female public speakers, that kind of thing. You might pick up a thing or two there."

"Good idea," Bayley said, nodding again. "Thanks again, Stephanie. This really might help me a lot."

"You're welcome." Stephanie turned and carried on heading for the production office, but she stopped only a few feet away and turned around to add one final thing. "If you have any problems with this kind of thing when I'm not on the road, talk to Hunter. He'll help you in any way he can."

Bayley knew that was the truth. Smiling, she said, "I'll do that. Thanks, Stephanie." She felt stupid for saying thanks three times in what seemed like about as many seconds, but she really had appreciated the help a lot. In a couple of weeks, as far as the public are concerned, Raw is my show, she decided.

* * *

Dana Brooke followed her travel partner, Alicia Fox into their locker room and angrily slammed the door closed. "I swear, if I hear one more person say the word Bayley tonight, I'm going to kill whoever does it. All everyone's talking about is this stupid new character she's getting. It's driving me crazy. Why does she get something like that when she's only just been called up, yet all I get is the chance to spend a few months jobbing for Charlotte, to put her over as a face."

"Could be worse," Alicia pointed out, slumping down onto a steel chair. "At least you get given a program with someone. I'm lucky if I get a match on the damn pre-show, and I've been here longer than either of you. You are right though, just because Hunter's got a hard-on for Bayley, she comes up and goes straight to the top, just like Sasha and Charlotte did. It makes me sick how he plays favourites like that. And now we're supposed to go around acting like that nerdy little bitch is the boss of us, running our show. Like she'd even have a clue. The entire concept is completely ridiculous. What the hell were they thinking coming up with a character like that, and then giving it to her of all people? All she was ever good at was hugging kids, for god's sake. Give me so some bright clothes, some headbands, and some of those dumb tube men and I can go out there and hug kids."

"Preach," Dana grumbled, standing with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. "They try and call this crap a revolution, when all it's really about is pushing Hunter's three little chosen ones. We'd have been better off if we'd been drafted to Smackdown. At least we might have had a chance to do something over there."

"And you know what the next thing's going to be?" Alicia went on with her own train of thought. "Commissioner Bayley this, Commissioner Bayley that. She'll be all over the WWE website, they'll be pushing the hell out of her on Twitter, they'll send her to be on SportsCenter with Coachman. You know what it's like when they start pushing someone like crazy. She'll be around more than dog shit. I just hope she screws it all up. Let the whole thing fail and teach them all a lesson, I say."

"And why should I job to Charlotte anyway?" Dana demanded, also continuing her own train of thought, making the conversation a very strange one. "I'm as good in the ring as she is, if not better. She's a bit taller than me, oh, and she's Ric Flair's daughter. Best not forget that now, had we?" Alicia just shook her head in disgust at the whole situation. Dana walked over to her case and started slamming her things around, preparing to go take her shower. "I'm done with all three of them, Alicia, I'll tell you that. I don't like them, I sure as hell don't respect them, and I'm not going to pretend that I do. From now on, if Sasha, Charlotte or especially Bayley cross me, they'll wish they hadn't."

"I'd do my best to make Charlotte look bad, if I was you," Alicia encouraged, although it wasn't really true. If she was given a program with the Women's Champion, which Charlotte would be by the time Dana started wrestling her, she would make the most of it to forward her own career. But that didn't mean that seeing someone make Charlotte look bad wouldn't be fun, and deserved of course.

"And Sasha and Bayley too," Dana added, turning to face her friend. "Any opportunity we get to make them look bad, in the ring or in the back, on the road, whatever, I say we take it. And if Hunter comes to us and asks what our problem is, maybe we tell him straight that we don't like being pushed aside by how unfair the booking is in this company."

"Deal," Alicia said, with a nasty little smile. "Knowing Bayley, we can make her life miserable pretty easily. I heard that she cried about having to turn heel. What is she, twelve? Crying about being given a main event push, have you heard anything so stupid in your life?"

Dana snorted her disgust. "If she gives me half a chance, I'll give her something to cry about. I took a couple of shots at Sasha in that match we just had. Caught her pretty good with a knee in the stomach. She didn't say anything, but I heard they go around saying I'm dangerous in the ring. Might as well make it true if I'm going to be accused of it."


	15. Chapter 15

"Now that is amazing," Bayley said, closing her eyes in satisfaction after swallowing her first mouthful of coffee.

One thing that Seth had quickly learned was that his girlfriend appreciated strong, expensive coffee. Apparently she could also somehow drink it at nearly boiling temperature too. He was barely even able to sip at his yet.

"I love local places like this," Bayley went on, looking around the small independent coffee shop that had come across by chance at the exact time when they had both been wanting something to drink. "And I love the name too. Bean and Gone. It just makes me smile for some reason."

"You're liking it here so far then?" Seth asked smiling as he leaned back on his wooden chair, relaxing as much as he could. It was the first of their two days off for the week. They had flown out to Des Moines that morning and then driven out to Waukee in a hire car so that they could take a look around what might one day become their home town, if Bayley liked it as much as he did. So far, the signs seemed very promising. After driving around some of the more affluent suburbs, which was where they would look for a house if they decided they both liked the area, they had driven back to the city centre and walked around for a couple of hours, checking out the stores, the people, and trying to take in the atmosphere of Waukee. Now, after being on the go all day, they were enjoying the chance to rest for a while.

"Yeah, I do," Bayley replied. All of the statistics that Seth had pulled up about the city had looked good; low unemployment, low crime, high average income, excellent education records, average age of citizens much lower than that of the country as whole. But she knew that anything could look good in statistics. Coming and looking around in person was the only way to really decide if she would like to live there. Pleasingly, she had liked what she had seen. The people seemed friendly and the atmosphere was a lot more pleasant and relaxed than it was in some cities. Of course they didn't plan to actually live in the city, which was why they had driven out to the suburbs and check them out too. Their whole idea hinged on finding a house in one of those suburbs that was large, in the right location, yet in a bad enough condition so that the price being asked at auction was low. Seth seemed to be confident that finding such a place wouldn't be as difficult as she imagined it to be.

Seth risked another sip of his coffee. "If you don't like it, please say so. The last thing I want is for you to move somewhere you're not going to be happy, just because it's where I suggested. It would make me feel guilty, and it would make you unhappy."

"I'm being honest," Bayley insisted, smiling. "I wouldn't lie to you about this. I said that I don't mind where we move to, but I wouldn't move to somewhere I didn't like. Waukee seems really nice, and some of those streets we drove down this morning would be the perfect kind of place that I'd want to live. You know the kind of person I am, I want to live somewhere that's pretty quiet. The kind of place where you get along with your neighbours, but everyone keeps themselves to themselves too. They're the kinds of places we saw earlier. I can definitely see why it was top of that list of places to live in Iowa that you pulled up the other day. I can definitely see myself living here."

"Now imagine the temperature is below freezing and it's ankle deep in snow out there. How about then? You're a California girl, so it's hardly your thing. That's how the winters are out here though."

Bayley smiled broadly. "What if I told you I've never seen snow in person before?"

"No way," Seth said, disbelieving, eyes widening. "You've _never_ seen snow? That's insane."

"The most you ever get in San Jose is ice on your car in the morning, and that doesn't happen often. And Florida is hardly the arctic either, so no, I've never seen any snow. Well, that's not exactly true. I've seen it out of the window on planes, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, you've never actually been out in the snow. So that means you've never built a snowman."

Bayley found that so adorable; Seth seemed almost like a kid with the way he spoke of a snowman, like making one was the must enjoyable thing in the world to do. She could just imagine him in their future front garden, trying to make his the biggest snowman on the street. Then she imagined having a snowball fight with him, or maybe it might be the two of them against their neighbours. As the scene played out in her mind, she realised that it was simple things like that which dreams were made of, at least for people like her and Seth.

Noticing the contented smile on her face, along with the somewhat distant expression on her face, Seth left it a minute before saying anything. "What are you thinking about?" he asked eventually, smiling. Blinking several times, Bayley snapped back into reality, then began to blush at the prospect of telling him that she'd been imagining their lives together so far into the future. "You can tell me," Seth encouraged. "There's no need to blush about it, whatever it is."

"You'll think I'm being stupid," Bayley said sheepishly, dodging the subject.

"No I won't. Please tell me what you were thinking, you looked so happy."

Bayley looked down at her coffee and mumbled, "I was just thinking about us having a snowball fight with our neighbours, outside our house. Stupid. Just ignore me."

"That's not stupid," Seth said, reaching over the table and taking her left hand in his right. "Look at me." Bayley looked up and met his eyes. As he looked back into hers, Seth found himself thinking that he was head over heels in love with her. "We'll do it, babe. One day, we'll do exactly that, and when do, we'll think back to today, in this coffee shop, when we first talked about it. We'll make it happen, I promise."

Squeezing his hand tightly, Bayley felt her stomach fluttering at the love that she saw in his eyes. She only hoped that he saw the same thing from her, because she definitely felt it. If there was a happier person than her in the world, she wanted to know who they were and how they had managed to achieve it, because she couldn't see how it would be possible. It was then that she decided Waukee was where she wanted to make a life with Seth. It just felt so right, and she wasn't going to second guess that feeling. "I want us to move here, Seth. And I want us to come back to this place for coffee as often as we can. This can be our place. Does that sound lame?"

Seth shook his head. "Not at all. It sounds wonderful to me. You've not even had a chance to sleep on it yet though, so don't rush into saying that you want to move here. This is a huge decision, and I want you to be one hundred per-cent sure before you..."

"I am sure, baby," Bayley cut in. "I'm totally sure. I mean it, it just feels right here. I'm so happy right now. You make me so happy. Like I said, I want to live here, with you. I want us to make ourselves a home, and I want us to build a snowman out front in the winter. I want us to beat our neighbours in a snowball fight, then go inside and snuggle up under a blanket to get warm. And I want to always be able to come back here, to the place where I realised without a shadow of doubt that..." She faltered and let her voice trail off, worried that he might think it was too soon.

"That what?" Seth asked softly, knowing what she had been about to say. Now he needed her to actually do it. If she said it, it would be okay for him to say it in return.

Bayley put her coffee cup down, then took his other hand so that she was now holding both of them. "I realised that I love you, baby, and I want to make a home and a life here, with you," she told him, hoping that she managed to get even close to conveying just how much she meant it.

"I love you too, angel," Seth said, feeling like the luckiest guy on Earth. Whether it was early in a relationship to say those words or not, Seth had known that they were true for some time. Other people's timelines meant nothing to him, and they clearly meant nothing to Bayley either. Nonetheless, it was slightly crazy that they were talking about buying a house together before they had even met each other's parents. That fact had been on Seth's mind for the past couple of days, since it had first occurred to him. He'd been waiting for the time to seem right to bring up the subject. Now seemed like that time. "I'd really like you meet my mom and stepdad soon. I know they'll just love you, and you'll get on great with them."

"I was thinking the same about my mom and dad," Bayley said, nodding. She let go of his hands and picked her cup back up. The coffee was too good to let it go cold. "I'd love to come and meet your parents though. You've mentioned your stepdad before, but not your real dad."

Seth shrugged indifferently, taking a drink from his cup. "Haven't seen him since I was a kid. His loss. My stepdad is my dad as far as I'm concerned. I changed my name to Rollins after all. But yeah, we should definitely sort something out so that we meet each other's parents soon. It would probably be best if we keep quiet about buying a house for a while too. People just won't understand how quickly things have gone for us, and I don't need to be second guessed by people, whether they mean well or not."

"You're right. I thought the same about telling Sasha and Charlotte. I just don't need the questions, you know? And there's another thing; how are we going to deal with asking Hunter for time off? It's going to be pretty obvious to him that something is going on between us when we ask to have the same week off."

"It's not really his business, is it?" Seth wished it was that simple. "I know he will probably ask questions though. Maybe we should go see him together and tell him that we're together, that we're buying a house, all of that. We could ask him to keep it to himself. Hunter's a good guy, I think he'd probably agree to that. I doubt I'll be Mr Popular though; he's bound to worry that I might be messing you around, and he specifically told me not to do that before our storyline started."

"Then you're right, we have to go see him together," Bayley decided. "I appreciate Hunter being supportive of me. God knows I'm only where I am now because of him, but that doesn't mean I need him to try and run my life for me. He's my boss, not my dad."

"What about your dad though?" Seth wondered. "How is he going to react to you dating someone you work with? And are we going to mention the house? Because again, your parents will think we're being crazy and rushing things."

"My parents are laid back people, like me. My dad's not one of those who's going to want to break your legs for going near his daughter. He'll be happy to meet you. If you ever hurt me things would be different, but I obviously know that's not going to happen."

"No way would that ever happen," Seth promised her.

* * *

A hotel in downtown Waukee was their resting place for the night. Seth had treated them both to a three course meal in the hotel's restaurant, after which they had gone back to their room. Conversation over the meal had been dominated by the search for a house to take on as a restoration project. Given that they had already made the decision to buy a house, and had decided that Waukee was the place they wanted to move to, Bayley had suggested that there was no time like the present to start the search in earnest. When they had gone back to the room, they had gotten undressed, climbed into bed, cuddled up to each other and fired up the laptop to browse for properties that were coming up for auction soon. It was hardly the end to a date night that many couples would have liked, but Seth and Bayley both felt as happy as could be.

"Nothing looks any good, does it?" Bayley asked after Seth had scrolled through a few pages on the first site he'd gone to. The houses that were for sale were either up to a reasonable standard - not what they wanted, or too small. It was true that there was only two of them, but they wanted to make a luxury, future-proof home for themselves. Even if they ended up wanting to move elsewhere, renovating a larger property ought to yield a much bigger profit, as long as they did the work to a high enough standard.

"Not for what we're looking for." Seth went back to the search engine, then selected another auction site. The first page again contained nothing to match their criteria, but the second page of two proved more fruitful. "Ah, here's a couple that we might be interested in. Look, both of them listed as needing to be viewed before purchase, and both require extensive refurbishment."

Seth clicked on the first property, pulling up more details on it, as well as a larger picture of the front of the house. It was a large, single storey property with a dormer roof, meaning that there were rooms in the attic. The garden was overgrown, only further emphasising the first word that came to Bayley's mind: Dreary.

After Seth read out some of the particulars, including the guide price for the auction, Bayley looked at him to try and gauge his reaction. He seemed vaguely interested, but definitely not overly enthusiastic about it. "I don't like it, Seth. It looks dreary. I know we want somewhere that's run down, but there's more than that to this place. It doesn't look like a dream home to me at all."

Seth had to agree. The picture of the house just wasn't appealing on a base level. "Okay, let's look at the other one then." He went back to the page of search results, then loaded up the details of the other property that they were interested in. This one was a two storey house which had a smaller frontage than the first one they'd looked at. There were no dormers in the roof, in fact the roof looked like it had seen better days. Several patches of damaged or missing tiles were visible, and Seth knew what that meant. "That roof will have leaked where the tiles are missing," he told Bayley, pointing out the damage to her on the screen. "There will be water damage in the rooms below, most probably damp in the walls too. That's good for us."

Feeling lost, Bayley looked at him again. "The house being ruined by water is good for us?"

"Yep. The roof needs repairs, maybe even replacement. The ceilings in the rooms on the first floor will be ruined and need replacing, and we'll need to hire a contractor to deal with the damp. All of that drives the guide price down like you wouldn't believe. I mean, look at it."

Looking at the guide price, Bayley raised her eyebrows in surprise. "One hundred thousand? That's all? Seth, this house is in that first suburb we went to. It was beautiful out there, and the houses looked amazing. Remember how you said you loved it? To buy a house like this out there if it was in good condition would cost a fortune!"

Seth nodded. "You're right. That's why this renovation idea is such a good one. This was my number one choice of location when I was looking before too. What do you think about the house itself though, apart from the roof obviously."

Bayley studied the picture again. Although the house was in a sorry state, it looked like it had a homely quality to it that the first one they'd looked at had completely lacked. There was a porch area outside of the front door and the windows to what was presumably the living room, which would make a lovely place to sit on summer evenings. Although it was currently a real mess, there was a smallish front garden beside the driveway which lead to the house's attached garage. She assumed that the room over the garage was one of the bedrooms. The description said it was a four bedroom, three bathroom property. It didn't look that big from the front though. "I like the look of this one. It looks like a home to me, if you know what I mean? It must go a long way back too, to have four bedrooms and three bathrooms."

"Yeah," Seth agreed. "Hey, they've got the address on here. Let's go look on Google, on the satellite thing. We can see what kind of rear garden it has too."

"Good idea." Bayley waited while Seth opened a new window and copied the address over into the Google search bar. "Seth, do we really need four bedrooms? Is that not too big for us?"

"We don't have to use them as bedrooms, babe. We could have a home office, a games room, whatever we want really. Imagine having a huge flat screen TV on the wall with a PS4 hooked up to it. I've always wanted something like that."

"That would be awesome," Bayley agreed, picturing it for herself.

Seth had found the house on the Google Maps page and zoomed in with the satellite view. "Yeah, look, it does go way back from the road. And it's got a big garden too. It's probably a bomb site judging by the picture of the front garden, but that would be something else that's driving the price down."

"I like how it's not too close to the neighbours on either side too," Bayley said. "Just the kind of thing I'd like. Not too far away to feel like you're remote from people, but not close enough so that hear them all the time."

Pulling the window with the property details back up, Seth found the date of the auction. "Two weeks until they auction it. What do you say we call them tomorrow and make an appointment to come and view it next week on our time off?"

Bayley felt warm inside as she considered that they might be looking at the place that would one day be their home. Seth and Bayley's house. Was this where their friends and families would come to visit them? Was this the place where they would celebrate birthdays and Christmas - her favourite time of the year? And who knew what the future might hold? It was way too soon to think seriously about it of course, but she wondered if they might even end up raising children there one day in the future. Turning to Seth, she kissed him softly on the lips. "Yes. I'd like to go look at it. I'm glad you know what you're doing, with the damage and everything."

"Just be prepared for the fact that we might go in and find something seriously wrong with it that means we need to let it go, serious structural problems for example. That's when it can get way too costly to try and fix somewhere up."

"Okay baby," Bayley said, squeezing his hand. "What do you think of it though? Do you like it?"

Seth took a moment before answering that. He'd been engrossing in looking at the practical aspects of the potential purchase, trying to put together a first rough outline of a budget for the renovation project. Looking at it more as a future home, he decided that yes, he did like it. The location was ideal for him, the size of the house was perfect so that they couldn't easily outgrow it, and there was certainly enough work that needed doing to it so that they could complete it for a fraction of what the eventual finished home would be worth. "I do like it. I like it a lot. Again though, don't get too carried away until we've viewed it."

"But what if we don't find anything crazy wrong with it?" Bayley asked excitedly, despite his advice. "What if we go to the auction and someone else wants it too?"

"Then we make sure we outbid them," Seth grinned. "Within reason of course. So you want me to make a call tomorrow and arrange a viewing?"

"Yes, definitely." Bayley looked at Seth again, smiling contentedly. "Seth?"

Seth looked away from the laptop and into her eyes. "What, babe?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." Seth closed the laptop and dropped it off the side of the bed as gently as he could, without taking his eyes off her. He then rolled over onto his side so that he could kiss her more easily. Within minutes they were making love for the first time in Waukee, Iowa.


	16. Chapter 16

Seth felt guilty when he walked into his locker room before Raw and saw that Roman was already in there. The realisation had just hit him that it was only in locker rooms that he ever saw his best friend these days. That was just wrong. He'd been so happy spending time with Bayley that he'd largely been ignoring everyone else in his life, including his parents. He had also recently missed two or three phone calls from Dean Ambrose, his other close friend, and had forgotten to call him back. Dean had even left a voice mail the last time he'd called, which wasn't like him at all, saying that he wanted to talk to Seth about something. He hadn't left any kind of clue as to what it was about, but Seth decided that he would call Dean after the show and have a good long catch up with him, as well as arranging to get together soon.

It really was such a shame that one of the three friends - brothers really, had been drafted to Smackdown. The other thing Seth decided to do was make definite plans with Roman to go out for the meal that they'd talked about a couple of weeks earlier. Roman had said that he was up for it, but then nothing had come of it, and Seth had to admit that he'd actually forgotten about that too. He hoped that Bayley had been doing better with her friends. Maybe it would be a good idea to suggest that they invited Sasha and Charlotte out with them one night too?

On the other hand, things had been going so fast with him and Bayley that there really hadn't been much time for them to spend with other people. Seth had never been happier in his life, and he knew that his friends would be pleased about that when he told them. He had already decided that he wanted to tell them both about potentially buying the house in Waukee too, although they would have to promise not to say anything to anyone else about it. Talking to them about his relationship and especially the plans for the house would be a lot of fun. Unless Roman had said something, Dean didn't even know that he was with Bayley yet, that was how bad things were at the moment.

"What's up with you?" Roman asked, looking up from his phone as Seth walked into the locker room. "She's not been beating you up again, has she?"

Seth wheeled his case over to the corner of the room, then sat down next to his friend. "It's not Bayley. Everything's great with us. In fact, there's something that I want to talk you about that Bayley and I have decided to do. But I was just..."

"You're not marrying her are you?" Roman grinned.

That sarcastic grin always made Seth laugh, and this time he was glad about it, feeling himself lighten up straight away. "No I'm not marrying her, you idiot. What I wanted to say was I'm sorry we've not spent much time with each other the last few weeks. I only see you in these stupid locker rooms. We really should go out for that meal we talked about soon. I need to call Dean too. I've not even spoken to him for ages. He even left me a voice mail the other day, and I forgot to get back to him. Is everything okay with him."

"Call him and find out, he'd like that."

It seemed to Seth that the answer deliberately hadn't revealed much, which was strange, but he let it slide. "Okay, I'll call him after the show. So, how about this meal then?"

"If you're paying, I'm there."

"And what if I'm not paying?" Seth asked, with a grin of his own.

"Then you can forget it. I'm not going unless there's something in it for me."

Sarcasm was frequent between the two of them, so Seth went with it without even having to think twice. "My company is what's in it for you. You know there are people out there who'd pay thousands of dollars to have dinner with me?"

"Yeah," Roman conceded. "But I've heard they're making a lot of progress with treating dementia these days, so I'd make the most of it while you still can."

"Fine," Seth shrugged, feigning indifference. "I'll just tell Bayley that you don't want to have dinner with her then."

"Oh, I didn't say that. I'll happily have dinner with Bayley, it's your ugly ass I don't want to have to look at all night."

Seth shook his head, but he was still grinning. "Prick."

"All this talk about dinner is making me hungry. Do you want to come down to catering?"

"Sure," Seth agreed, standing up. "Bayley and I ate before we came here, but I'll come down with you. I could use a coffee. She's getting me addicted to the stuff."

Roman got up and lead the way to the door. As he followed his friend out of the locker room, Seth decided that this was a good time to talk about the house, although he would have to make sure that no one overheard the conversation. News didn't travel faster anywhere than backstage in WWE. All it took was one person who wasn't a close friend to hear something, and the next minute everyone on the roster would know.

"I wanted to talk to you about something else," Seth began. "It needs to stay between us though, man."

Noting the seriousness in Seth's voice, Roman dispensed with the jokes, for now. "Okay. What's up?"

Rusev and Lana were walking towards them, heading in the opposite direction. Seth waited for them to pass before he spoke. "Things are uh, moving fast for me and Bayley. She told me she loves me the other day, and I said it back to her obviously."

"Well good for you," Roman said, smiling, thinking that was what Seth had wanted to tell him. "You're worried what other people might think? I say fuck 'em. If you guys are happy, good for you."

"Thanks man, but that's not really the news I was trying to tell you. When she said it to me, we were out in Iowa; Waukee to be specific."

Roman looked at him, narrowing his eyes slightly in confusion. "You went there for your days off? Why?"

They had nearly reached catering. Seth stopped walking, causing Roman to do the same. The busiest room in the building wasn't where Seth wanted to make the announcement, private or not. "We're looking at buying a house out there."

Roman's eyes lit up and he smiled broadly in amusement. "You little fucker, you don't mess around do you? You've been with her a few weeks and you're already shacking up with her. I know you dropped on a good one, but I've never..."

"We're not moving in together now, asshole," Seth sighed, before elaborating. "We're buying a renovation project. We're going to work on it together to fix it up, then when it's done, six months from now or whatever, then we're going to move in together. We've put a lot of thought into it, and it's what we both want. I know things are going quickly, but we both love each other. She uh, makes me really happy, man," he added, feeling himself getting emotional as he said it. That was the last thing he'd expected to happen in front of his friend. To his surprise, before his embarrassment could take over, Roman smiled and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"I'm proud of you bro, you know that?"

"You are?" Seth asked, again surprised, this time by how much that meant to him.

"Yeah, I am. You're finally growing up. I never would have thought Dean would beat you to it, but he did when he got with Renee. I don't want to sound like I'm going all soft on you, but you seem really happy since you've been with Bayley. It's nice to see. If you need a hand with anything at the house, you let me know. I'm not bad with a paint brush."

"Thanks," was all Seth could manage, feeling overwhelmed by what Roman had said. It might not have been put in the best way, but Seth knew what he meant. He wasn't in his early twenties anymore, when it was perfectly fine to spend his nights out with his friends or in his hotel room playing video games. Now at thirty, it was the time where he should be finding himself the right woman to settle down with. And that was exactly what he intended to do with Bayley.

Seeing how Seth reacted, Roman just smiled and lead the way into catering. "Come on, you can tell me more about the house while I eat."

* * *

"We're going to buy a house together," Bayley announced, after swearing Charlotte to secrecy. They were the only people in the locker room because Sasha had the week off to rest a minor injury. Keeping their plans quiet had been too much to ask for Bayley, who was more excited about buying the house with Seth than she ever had been about anything else in her life.

"Wow," Charlotte laughed involuntarily. "You guys sure move fast. Moving in together so soon is a big decision."

Realising that she should have been clearer on the situation, Bayley quickly rectified the error. "We're not moving in together yet. What we're buying is a house that needs renovation work. Seth's really good at DIY and he knows all kinds of things about houses, what they're worth, how much it costs to do work on them, all that kind of thing. He's going to teach me as we go along, and we're going to make ourselves a home."

Seeing how happy Bayley was about the news, Charlotte offered a hug, which Bayley gladly accepted. "I'm so pleased for you, Bay. I've never seen you look happier."

"I just never thought I'd find myself a guy who loved me, least of all one like Seth. It's just such a great feeling to be in love." They pulled apart, and Bayley considered that she hadn't talked to Sasha all that much recently, and Charlotte even less so. With the plans to go view the house and then maybe buy it, her free time looked busy for the forseeable future too. It was important not to start losing touch with her two best friends though.

"What's up?" Charlotte asked, seeing the change in expression on her friend's face.

"I was just thinking that I don't see you and Sash as much as I used to. I miss you guys. We should arrange something next week, when Sash is back on the road. All three of us could go out to eat or something, have a proper catch up, you know?"

Charlotte smiled. "That would be great. We should definitely do that."

"I feel bad that Seth's not been spending time with Roman and Dean too. It's just so easy to get lost in what you're doing, isn't it? I mean, the weeks are just flying by since I started dating Seth. We've not even had time to visit each other's parents yet."

Already dressed in her ring gear, Charlotte sat down on a steel chair so that she could put her boots on. "That's one of the most awkward times in a relationship for sure. How will your dad react to you dating someone? He's always seemed pretty chilled when I've met him."

Bayley considered that. While her parents had been hinting for some time that they thought it was time she had someone in her life, would they actually feel the same now that she had? There would be natural protective instincts there of course, especiallly from her father. That was why it was important not to mention the house purchase yet. Her mom and dad could only see it as rushing things, and that might make them unfairly dislike and mistrust Seth. "They'll be happy for me," she decided. "I just can't tell them about the house yet. They wouldn't understand, and I can't blame them for that."

"I think that's a good idea," Charlotte said thoughtfully. "Let them get to know Seth some first, then tell them about the house. You can always avoid lying to them about it whenever you tell them about it by just saying that you bought a house. You don't have to say _when_ you bought it. When are you buying it anyway? Have you got one lined up already?"

"We're going to view one later the week," Bayley said, walking over to the large mirror to check her makeup. The women that WWE employed always did a great job with it.

"Tell me what you know about it."

Bayley did just that, thoroughly enjoying talking about what she hoped was her future home.

* * *

After the show, it was Bayley's turn to drive them to the next town. With some free time on his hands, Seth had decided to call Dean and apologise for missing his calls and not getting back to him. Dean had mentioned wanting to talk about something too, which had Seth intrigued. Lastly, he was looking forward to pasing on the news about his relationship with Bayley.

When he called Dean's number, the phone rang long enough that Seth was expecting to get voice mail, but then Dean answered just in time. Seth could tell from the greeting that he'd had to rush to the phone. "Hey, brother."

"What's up, man?" Seth asked, already smiling at hearing his friend's voice.

"Nearly missed you there. Good job I didn't, would probably have had to wait another six months to speak to you," Dean quipped.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, bro," Seth sighed. "I know you called me a bunch of times and I didn't get back to you. I've been really busy lately. Actually, I've got some awesome news for you about that. But before I go into that, how are things with you? You said you needed to talk."

"Yeah, I need to talk about kicking your ass," Dean quipped again. "Or am I not good enough for you now I'm on a better show than you?"

"You figured me out so quickly," Seth chuckled. "But seriously, is everything okay with you?"

"Everything's great." Seth could hear the smile in Dean's voice. "I have news. But I need you to keep it to yourself for now. Rome knows, and a couple of others, but we don't want it going around the locker room yet."

Seth found himself wondering if Dean had proposed to Renee. That would be awesome. There was no point trying to guess though. He would have to tell Bayley about whatever the news was - keeping secrets from his girlfriend wasn't his style - but he couldn't say that because Dean didn't know about Bayley yet. "Sure thing. So what's the news?" He saw Bayley glance at him for a second, before directing her attention back to the traffic around them.

"Renee's pregnant," Dean blurted out, clearly delighted.

"Aww man, that's awesome!" Seth exclaimed, smiling like a Cheshire cat. "I'm so pleased for you guys, I don't even know what to say."

Hearing his excitement, Bayley was smiling too, and looking at him inquisitively as much as she could while still driving safely.

"Thanks, dude. I'm going to be a dad!"

Seth had literally never heard Dean sound so happy or excited about anything before, and he found it a touching thing to hear. He was about to say that Dean and Renee would be awesome parents, but that would have given the game away to Bayley before he'd gotten permission from Dean to do so. "That is so awesome," he said instead, hedging his bets. "Renee must be so happy?"

"You know it, man," Dean replied. There was obviously an equally large smile on his face. "Do you want to speak to her?"

"Definitely. But before I do, I have some news for you too, and the same deal about keeping it to yourself. You can tell Renee though obviously."

"You're coming out?" Dean guessed, laughing.

"No, I'm not coming out, dick head."

Bayley burst out laughing at that, and Dean must have heard it. "Who's that? You're in a car with a woman? Oh shit, are you dating someone?"

"Yep," Seth confirmed, grinning like an idiot again. "Guess who?"

"One of the makeup ladies?" Dean quipped.

Seth sighed theatrically. "Guess seriously."

"Hmmm." Dean paused for a second. "JoJo?"

"What?" Seth burst out laughing. Not that there was anything wrong with Raw's ring announcer at all, it was just such a left field guess.

"Who did he guess?" Bayley asked, giggling herself.

"JoJo," Seth told her, which made Bayley laugh.

"Alright, asshole," Dean griped, feigning annoyance. "Who is it then?"

"I'm with Bayley," Seth announced, with every bit of the pride that he felt in the fact.

"Nice. I'd definitely do her some damage," Dean said, deliberately baiting Seth. Knowing better than to bite, Seth just stayed quiet for a second until Dean went on, turning serious. "Good news all round then, brother. I don't know Bayley, but she seems like a nice girl."

"And then some," Seth assured him.

Dean shouted then, right into the phone, much to Seth's discomfort. "Renee! Guess what? Seth's dating Bayley! Don't tell anyone though!"

"Apart from the entire English speaking world," Seth said, shaking his head. "Please tell me there's only the two of you wherever you are?"

"No, we've got half the locker room in our hotel room, you fucking idiot." It was typical Dean, and Seth couldn't help laughing again. Everyone needed a friend like Dean; someone who could make you laugh no matter what the situation was. "Here's Renee now," Dean said.

After a moment, Renee's voice came on the line. Congratulations were passed on all round as they chatted for a couple of minutes, then Renee put Dean back on.

"We need to meet up soon," Seth told his friend.

"Definitely. It's hard with us being on different shows though. We're never in the same place."

"I know," Seth replied, suddenly feeling a little deflated. The brand split really did suck for causing a problem that had never been there in the past.

"I got an idea," Dean said, sounding like he'd just discovered the cure for cancer. "Next time they want to use Renee on Raw and I'm not working a house show, I'll come with her. We can go out afterwards, and Roman can come too."

"Now that sounds like a plan to me," Seth agreed. He heard Renee's voice in the background, then Dean made his excuses to get off the phone, promising to call Seth again soon. As Seth put his phone back in his pocket, he found himself thinking how nice it had been to talk to Dean, even if just for a few minutes. And the news about Renee's pregnancy was fantastic. While Dean wouldn't be the most orthodox father in the world, Seth knew that he would still do a great job.

Bayley had been able to tell from Seth's side of the conversation just how much he had enjoyed it. She looked over to him briefly and gave him a smile that she hoped matched the one she got in return. "I love you, baby."

"I love you too, angel."


	17. Chapter 17

"You know you didn't tell me what Dean's news was, right?" Bayley said when Seth walked out of their hotel room's bathroom. "Did he ask you not to? It's fine if he did, I just..."

"No," Seth said quickly as he walked over to the couch where she was sitting, typing away on her laptop for some reason. As soon as she said it, he felt bad for not telling her the news right away in the car. So many different things had been on his mind at the same time, so he'd just ended up sitting there trying to process it all. Dean was going to be a father. Roman was already a father. Maybe he would be a father one day too? Although if he was honest, he couldn't really see himself as a dad to a baby or a young child. Other people's kids were fine in short periods, but he imagined that having one of his own would drive him insane. Sleep was one thing that he'd always loved, and having a baby would guarantee that he wouldn't get any. That thought made him cringe. But what would Bayley think about kids? Would she want to have one, or even more than one? It was too early to ask her a question like that, he decided.

Bayley stopped typing and looked at him, trying to read his expression. "Seth? Are you okay?"

"Sorry," Seth said, snapping out of his thoughts. "No, he didn't ask me not to tell you. Actually, he wanted me to tell you. The whole thing just threw me a bit. I've been thinking about all kinds of things since I talked to him."

Smiling, Bayley encouraged him to talk to her. "So what is it, baby?"

"Renee's pregnant," Seth revealed, a smile breaking out on his face.

"Oh my god," Bayley gasped. Then she let out a strange, joyous little squeal. "I'm so happy for them!" she exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement. "I think Renee is awesome. She's literally always been nice to me. I don't know Dean, but I obviously know he's been a good friend to you for years. I don't think this couldn't have happened to two nicer people."

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Dean will make a great dad. Their kid will certainly have a lot of fun while it grows up, that's for sure."

"Is Dean really as crazy as they have him act on-screen? I've heard people say he is, but I don't know how serious or honest they were being."

"He's not quite as crazy," Seth chuckled. "But I have to admit he's not far off at times. I love the guy like a brother, but he's gotten me in trouble more than once."

After shaking her head in amusement, Bayley went back to typing on her laptop. "Why doesn't that surprise me? Dare I ask, or don't I want to know?"

"No, there's nothing all that bad really." Seth sighed, then leaned back on the couch. It was nice to relax after another long day. Most days were long when you worked for WWE, contrary to what some fans believed. It certainly wasn't as simple as turning up at an arena for a few hours a day, wrestling for fifteen minutes, then getting out of there. Feeling content, he said nothing for a few minutes, just sitting there with his eyes closed, savoring the moment. Bayley's fingers hitting the keys was the only sound in the room.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and looked at the laptop's screen. He saw that she was writing some kind of document in Word, a strange thing to be doing at this time of night. And what on Earth was she writing anyway, that was so important? "What are you up to, babe?"

"Just writing something for work," Bayley said, not really paying attention as she continued typing.

Seth felt more confused after getting that answer, rather than less. "Something for work? Hunter asked you to write something? What is it?"

"Sorry," Bayley said, turning to look at him, realising that she'd kind of blown off his first question. She turned the laptop so that the screen faced him, allowing him to see her work better. "Hunter didn't ask me to do it, actually no one did. I decided to do it myself, to get into my new character a bit more."

Intrigued, Seth leaned foward, took the laptop and set it down on his own legs so that he could read the document.

"Vince and Hunter both told me how much they expect of me in this new role, and Stephanie suggested that I do my best to try and live my character," Bayley reminded him. "She was right too, so I got to thinking that if I am going to live my character and stand by certain policies that are referred to and discussed on-screen, they ought to be policies that I actually believe in. So, I'm writing down what my ideas for running Raw would be if I really was Commissioner. I'm planning to give it to Hunter when it's finished. Hopefully he'll have the writers use some of it to base my character on."

Seth nodded appreciatively, still reading. Bayley taking a real interest in her new role seemed like a big step forward to him, not that he had ever really doubted that she would give it her best. Remembering that the idea was that Commissioner Martinez was supposed to be a devisive political figure, Seth thought that she was right on the money with some of the ideas that he was reading. "Some of this is quite right wing. It could easily be said that people at the top end of the roster are being favoured over the guys who are mid-card or lower."

"Exactly. It's contrary to the rhetoric they've given Shane and Daniel on Smackdown, which I think is a good thing. I'm supposed to dislike them and their policies. You know the kind of things they have them say; everyone will be given opportunities, all that stuff. Raw has more top level guys, in my opinion. My Raw would rely on those big names to pull in ratings and sell tickets. No one pays money to watch Darren Young against Bo Dallas, do they? Write good storylines for the top guys, you'll have a successful show. That's the basic idea behind these policies."

"And this idea you have about contracts being changed to reflect performance is a good one, for your character I mean. They could easily say on-screen that the change has been made."

"Yep. And it would be a contentious issue, especially with the bonuses for main event matches and best match of the night. But the main point is that no one would make a guaranteed amount of money. Depending on Raw's ratings compared to Smackdown's, the amount paid would go up or down."

"So those who aren't being given opportunities can complain about not having the chance to make the big money, and accuse you of playing favourites, but you can reply by saying that if the show does well, everyone is better off than they were before, so it makes sense to have the best guys dominate the show. Very interesting, babe. You've clearly put a lot of thought into this, and it's just the kind of devise stuff that I think Vince is looking for." Seth handed the laptop back to her.

"Thank you." Bayley saved the document and closed the laptop. "I've still got more ideas to put down. I need to get finished up in time for Sunday so I can give it to Hunter at Clash of Champions. Do you think they'll actually go with it?"

"I would hope they'd at least use some of it," Seth said thoughtfully. "The big problem I see is that we're talking about saying things on-screen which don't actually have any effect on what actually goes on backstage. What I mean is, your character can do a lot of talking about top guys drawing ratings all the rest of it, but if Smackdown is actually beating Raw in the ratings then you'll just look like an idiot, and your character will flop. You have no control over that, obviously."

"There's not much I can do about that," Bayley agreed with a simple smile that Seth found very cute. "Vince wanted this character, he'll have to make sure it works. I didn't choose it, but now that I've got it, I'm going to give it my best, and I'm going to be proud of the work I put in. That's how I've always looked at wrestling."

Seth put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him, and she nestled against him, making herself comfortable. He thought that if McMahon didn't drop the ball on it, the character of Commissioner Martinez had a serious amount of potential. There was no doubt that she had the talent and the commitment to more than keep up her end of the bargain. All she ever lacked was confidence, and that was where it was his job to help out. "I know you'll do an amazing job, angel. There'll be someone who's even more proud than you when you knock this out of the park."

Bayley looked him in the eye, smiling shyly. "And who is that?" she asked, although she knew what his answer was going to be.

"Me," Seth said, then kissed her gently on the forehead, his favourite sign of affection.

* * *

"I'm so excited!" Bayley exclaimed.

They were in a hire car, driving through the suburb of Waukee that they hoped to one day call home. Seth was driving them to the address of the house that they were considering buying at auction. He had made an appointment to meet a real estate agent there, so that they could take a look around. It was an essential thing to do before buying a property for renovation, Seth knew. All kinds of serious problems could be lurking beneath the surface, any one of which might mean that they had to walk away from this house and go back to searching. If he couldn't see anything too serious, he intended to make a mental list of all the work that needed doing so that he could get a better handle on what the budget for the work would have to be.

"I know, babe. Me too, but remember that we might have to walk away from this one. Don't get too attached to it yet, at least not until we've looked around."

"I'm trying my best, but I keep thinking that we might be about to walk into our home for the first time."

Seth had to smile. That excitable part of her spirit, that enthusiasm that was almost childlike at times, were some of the things that he found most adorable about her. Even so, it was important that he followed his own advice. The last thing they wanted to do was end up buying a house that had serious problems, the kind of problems that required ridiculous amounts of money to put right.

A few minutes later, Seth parked their car in front of the house that they were going to view. A silver Mercedes was already parked on the house's driveway. A youngish, dark haired woman wearing a smart grey business suit was standing beside the car, in the middle of a call on her cell phone. "I guess that's the woman from the real estate place," Bayley observed unnecessarily.

"I'll ask her to leave us to it once we're in there," Seth said, before killing the engine and getting out of the car.

Noticing their arrival, the woman in the suit quickly ended her call and walked towards them, meeting them at the bottom of the short driveway. She offered her hand to Seth as she introduced herself. "Mr Rollins? I'm Liza Raja."

"Call me Seth," he said, accepting the handshake. Then he gestured to Bayley. "This is Bayley."

"Hey, Liza. Nice to meet you." Another handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Bayley." Smiling at both of them, Liza gestured towards the house. "Shall we take a look around then, guys?"

"Let's do it," Bayley said excitedly. She took Seth's hand as they followed Liza up the driveway, then waited while she unlocked the front door, which was the first thing that needed some work, Seth saw. Both the door and its frame were wooden, and both had seen better days. He didn't bother listening while Liza went through the typical spiel about the house and the area where they were. He'd already researched everything he needed to know, and taking the word of a real estate agent on anything generally wasn't a good idea anyway. Instead, he looked over what he could see of the front of the house. All of the windows he could see would need replacing. The current ones were not even double glazed. He dreaded to imagine how cold the house would be in winter in this condition.

"I need to ask you to be careful when we go upstairs," Liza was saying. She had just opened the front door, which had required quite a firm push. "There's some damage to the roof. Water has leaked in, particularly in one of the back bedrooms. The ceiling has come down, and the floor boards look like they may well be rotten, thanks to all the water damage, so can I ask you not to go into that room, please?"

Bayley had walked inside ahead of Seth, and she turned back to him with a look of concern on her face, as if she expected him to say that they might as well turn around and leave if that was the case. "Don't worry, babe," he whispered. "That's nothing we can't fix."

They had walked into an entrance hallway. To one side was a small utility room, which then lead into the garage. Briefly looking into the utility room, they saw that it was piled full of someone's junk, many years old by the look of it. The main feature of the hallway was what had at one time been a grand staircase leading up the first floor. Much like everything else, it was in a sorry state of disrepair. A strong smell of damp assaulted their nostrils, confirming what Seth had already known. If they did buy this house, the first two jobs were to hire contractors to deal with the damaged roof and the damp problems that had resulted from it.

Seeing where he was looking, Liza said, "The stairs will need work, but they're safe to use. We can go upstairs when you've looked around down here."

"Actually, would you mind leaving us to it?" Seth asked politely. "I know quite a bit about property, so I know what I'm looking at. I'd like to have some privacy to talk about it with Bayley."

Liza blinked, showing her surprise, but quickly recovered. "Of course. I'll wait for you in the car until you're done." She handed Seth the keys to the house, pointing out one in particular. "This is the key for the door to the rear garden, if you want to go out there."

"Thank you."

Bayley waited until Liza had gone back out of the front door before she said anything. Looking around the entrance hall and up the stairs had made her heart sink. She had known that they were coming to see a renovation project, but the house looked like a total wreck to her, and she just couldn't envisage it as a fully fixed up house that she was living in. It was just too much of a stretch for her imagination. She looked at Seth to see what he was thinking, and was surprised to get an encouraging smile. "It's in such a bad state, Seth. But you look like you think we can do something with this?"

Seth walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "You'd be surprised, angel. Some hard work, new carpets or flooring, fresh coat of paint on the ceilings and the walls, it'll be good as new."

"You really think so?" Bayley nestled against him, wanting to believe him, but just not able to see it.

"I know so. I've watched plenty of property renovation shows on TV before. People make beautiful homes out of places like this, worse than this actually. And that's what we're going to do, if we decide this is the one for us. Let's have a look around, huh?"

Looking up into his eyes, all of Bayley's instincts told her to trust her man. He knew what he was talking about and she didn't. That was one of the things that she'd liked about the idea when they'd first discussed it. Having always been a keen learner, and never afraid to get stuck into a task, she looked forward to being taught about property and DIY as they went along. It didn't take much to imagine the sense of pride that she would feel in their home when they had done a lot of the work on it themselves. "Okay," she said simply, smiling at Seth.

The door to the living room stood open, so Seth lead the way over there first. They saw that unlike the utility room, the living room had been left completely empty, aside from some ancient carpet which was long since ready to be disposed of. Some of the wallpaper had peeled off the external wall. None of those things were problems at all though, Seth knew.

"It's cold in here too," Bayley said, looking around the room.

"The window's aren't double glazed," Seth pointed out. "They'll need replacing."

Bayley turned to him with that uncertain expression on her face again. "New windows, new roof. Liza said something about new ceilings and floor boards in a bedroom, plus there's damp to deal with as well. It's starting to seem like it'll be expensive to me."

"It will," Seth nodded. "But that's why the asking price is so low. I'd say the plot of land we're on is probably work close to the guide price. I don't expect we could actually win the auction for a hundred grand, but setting it that low tells you that you're going to have to do a lot of work on the house. But when it's done? This place would be worth a serious amount of money. You saw what some of the nicest places around here were on sale for."

Again telling herself to trust him, Bayley had to admit that he was right about the property prices in the area. One hundred thousand dollars for a house in this neighbourhood was stupidly low. She walked out of the living room and lead the way to another empty room that was a similar size, and in a similar condition. "This would be the dining room then?" she guessed.

"Yep. And the kitchen must be through there." Seth pointed to a closed door on the far side of the dining room. They walked over there and Seth opened it. A new kitchen was something that he had felt certain they would need to buy, and he saw that he was right. The units and appliances that were currently in there were only fit to be thrown in a dumpster. He guessed that the kitchen hadn't been modernised for twenty years at the very least. "This will all have to come out and be replaced, obviously."

"I expected to need a new kitchen," Bayley said, standing beside him, just inside the doorway. "At least the actual room is a decent size."

Seth walked through the kitchen, over to a large window which looked out onto the rear garden, which was as overgrown as he had expected. There was also an old couch and a set of dining room furniture strewn across the lawn, which explained why the living and dining rooms had been empty. Currently, there was a door on one side of the kitchen which lead out to the garden, but a better idea had already occurred to Seth. "We could have that door bricked up and put a window there, then take out this window here and put in some french doors so that we can see much more of the garden, as well as letting a lot more natural light into the kitchen. Obviously we couldn't do that ourselves though, we'll need a contractor for any building work, plumbing, electrics."

Picturing the changes he'd described, Bayley nodded appreciatively. "That's a really good idea. A friend of mine has something like that in her house, with a decking area out in the garden. It's really nice out there in the summer, sitting in the sun while you eat."

Having her contribute ideas made Seth smile. She was getting into it now, which was what he had hoped would happen. "We could build some decking out there for sure. I can get Roman and Dean to help us with that. They can do all the heavy lifting," he chuckled. "Clearing up the garden, re-turfing the lawn, building the decking. There's a decent amount of work right there, just on the garden."

"It's a big garden too, but we knew that from the satellite thing we looked at."

They went outside and spent a couple of minutes looking at what they could see of the garden without walking through the long grass. Neither of them were dressed for work, and had to go back to downtown Waukee dressed as they were. Next it was time to go upstairs, with Seth leading the way, treading carefully as he climbed the stairs. As Liza had said, the stairs seemed safe despite not looking like they were in the best condition. Over the next ten minutes, they looked over three of the four bedrooms, all reasonably sized rooms which currently stood empty. The bathrooms needed complete overhauls, but again that wasn't a surprise to either of them. Pleasingly to Seth, he had seen no signs of major structural issues with the house. Cosmetically it was a bomb site, but that wasn't difficult to rectify.

"Just the back bedroom left to see then," he said when they walked back onto the landing, heading for the final door that they hadn't yet opened. This was the room that Liza had warned them to be careful about, as it was where the water that had leaked through the roof had done most of its damage. Slowly, he opened the door, and took a deep breath at what he saw.

"Oh, Seth," Bayley gasped beside him, devastated by the sight in front of her.

Daylight was actually coming into the room through a hole in the roof because the bedroom's ceiling had fallen in due to the water damage, and as Liza had said, the bedroom floor looked like it was ready to collapse also. Although it was carpeted, Seth could see that it was sagging in the middle of the room, a sure sign that the floor joists would need replacing. He felt Bayley take his hand and squeeze it, clearly fearful that he might be about to say that fixing this damage was beyond what they should, or could take on. Again though, he knew that it looked worse than it was. A decent contractor could fix the damage for a reasonable price, and he happened to be in the fortunate position of having a stepdad who knew a lot of building contractors. With favours called in, he expected the work not to cost all that much money, relatively speaking. After explaining all of that to Bayley, he was happy to see her smile return.

"I'm going to have to trust you on this, baby. You're the one who knows about property, how much work this stuff will take, what everything costs. If you think we can do, I believe you. All I can say is I love the area and I like the layout of the house. I think the garden will look amazing when once we've fixed it up."

Seth walked back down the landing to the top of the stairs. "The best thing will be this entrance hall and staircase, once it's brought up to standard. It will have what they call 'wow factor' when you walk through the front door."

Bayley had noticed that while he had made comments on each room and on the garden as they had walked around, he hadn't actually given her an indication as to whether he thought the house was the one for them. "So what do you think of it?" she asked, realising herself just how hopeful she was as she spoke. If it wasn't going to be out of their budget, she wanted to go for it.

"I like it." Seth turned to face her, then kissed her softly on the lips. "And I can tell you like it too."

"I do," Bayley said, feeling her excitement about to bubble over as she realised that they might really be standing in what would become their home. It was also she could do not to jump up and down just to let some of it out.

Again, Seth found himself thinking that seeing her excited like that was one of his favourite things. He found it adorable beyond description. "I love you so much, you know that?" he said, wrapping her up in a hug and lifting her off her feet.

Bayley let out a squeal of surprise and delight and hugged him back as best she could. "Are we going to buy it, baby? Please say were are."

"We're damn sure going to try," Seth promised her, remembering that they still had to actually win the auction when it was held the following week. By sheer luck, it was being held on one of their days off too, so he didn't even have to go to Hunter with his hat in his hand in order for them to be there. He wondered it maybe that was what some people called fate.


	18. Chapter 18

Hunter looked up from his paperwork when he heard a soft knock on the open door to his office. Bayley was standing in the doorway, dressed in a smart black business suit and a dark blue blouse, ready for the Clash of Champions pay-per-view which was just over an hour away from starting. She had a nervous expression on her face and some kind of document in her hand. "Come in, Bayley," he said pleasantly, encouraging her with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

Walking into the office, Bayley tried to suppress her nerves as best she could, reminding herself again that it was something she was going to have master in the very near future, given the fact that in a matter of hours she would be announced as the new commissioner of Raw. As far as kayfabe was concerned, with Stephanie and Hunter out of the picture, she would be the second most powerful person in the company, only behind Vince McMahon himself, who almost never appeared on either Raw or Smackdown anyway. Standing in the ring looking nervous simply would not be acceptable. At least Hunter was alone in the office. Talking to both him and Stephanie, or even to Vince, would have made things so much harder for her.

After clearing her throat, she tried to speak as confidently as she could. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about my new character, Hunter. Taking on-board what you and Mr McMahon have asked of me, and the advice that Stephanie gave me about trying to live my character, I decided to put together a list of policies that I would implement if I really was in charge of the show. I wondered if you might, uh, ask the writers to base my character on it? If they can, I mean."

"Let's take a look." Hunter held out his hand for the document and Bayley gave it to him. As he read over her ideas, he found himself feeling impressed by her dedication. She had to have sunk hours into thinking up and then writing out these ideas, and it hadn't been asked of her. In fact no one had even thought to ask her for any input at all. What she had produced definitely had merit too. The requirement for a devisive character who was opposed to the policies of Smackdown's management had certainly been taken into account.

"If it's no good, just throw it in the trash," Bayley said, sounding nervous again despite herself.

"No, I think we can do something with at least some of this. I'll take it to Vince when we're done here and see what he thinks of it. We've actually already come up with a contentious issue for your character to resolve as her first job as Commissioner."

Bayley was pleased to hear that. Her biggest concern about taking on the new role was that Vince might lose interest in it, leaving her floundering with a character that became irrelevant and took her career with it. That kind of thing had happened to plenty of people before. At least she had Hunter on her side, which would help to safeguard her against that to some extent.

"What issue is that?" she asked him, genuinely curious.

Hunter already had a little test prepared for her, to see just how well she was getting used to how Commissioner Martinez would think and act. "Remember on Raw this week we had a couple of spots where referees got injured? We're going to have it that they've had enough of getting hurt on the job, and they think they don't think they get paid enough either, so they've gone on strike. They'll be shown protesting outside the arena tonight. We've brought in some of the referees that we use on NXT to play the part of scabs, because we obviously need referees for the matches tonight. So, Bayley, how would you say Commissioner Martinez would react to that situation and deal with it when she takes office?"

Although she was put on the spot by the question, the answer came to Bayley right away. That was a good thing, she realised, as it was obvious that Hunter was testing her. "She wouldn't stand for it. Her view would be that the referees were acting in a way that was detrimental to Raw, and that's something that would disgust her. I think she would refuse to negotiate with them, and tell them they had two choices: either come back to work or stay out on strike, but there would be no offer of a pay increase. Furthermore, any attempt they might make to stop the scab referees who were there to work from getting into the arena to do their jobs would be dealt with in the strongest possible way."

Leaning back in his chair, Hunter couldn't stop himself from smiling. His faith in Bayley to do well with her heel turn and then the alternate idea to make her the commissioner had never wavered, even when her own faith in herself obviously had. Hearing her using words like detrimental and furthermore told him that she was already starting to think like Commissioner Martinez. Added to that was the fact that the answer she'd given virtually matched what Vince had instructed the writers to put together regarding the referee's strike.

"It looks like I passed," Bayley said before he responded to her, seeing the smile on his face.

Hunter chuckled. "Yeah, you passed. You said almost exactly what we have in mind. You're getting into the head of your new character already. Honestly, I only wish you had as much confidence in yourself as I have in you. Believe in yourself, Bayley, because you have so much talent. I firmly believe that Commissioner Martinez is a character that could be talked about years from now, and it could be a role that elevates you right to the very top of this business. And I do mean the very top. The days are gone where there was a limit on how far a woman could go in this business. I know that you once said in an interview that you believe women could main event Wrestlemania one day, and I believe you were right. One day it could happen, and you are talented enough to be one of the women in the match, if it did happen."

Looking down at Hunter's desk, Bayley scrunched her eyes tightly closed to keep the tears in. His words of confidence meant more to her than he would ever know. "I try my best," she managed to mumble.

"I know you do." Hunter got up, walked around his desk and gave her a reassuring hug. "Now, what I need you to do is make the most of the opportunity that you've been given. You've got the talent, you've got a good character to work with. Make the most of it," he repeated, more firmly this time.

Bayley pulled away from him, angry with herself for crying in front of him again. Drawing on his encouragement for determination, she looked him in the eye. "I will. From this point on, I'll live my character, like I promised Vince I would. Anything you want me to do as Commissioner Martinez, I'll do it, and I don't just mean in the ring. Send me to any kind of public appearance, press conferences, anything you want. I'll be the hardest worker on the roster if you want me to be. Obviously I know I'm not really in charge of Raw, but maybe we can push kayfabe a bit? For example, just having me referred to at a press conference as Commissioner Bayley Martinez would add credibility to the role, and it would make some people wonder just how much influence I really have on things backstage."

"I appreciate your commitment, Bayley. And that's an interesting idea about stretching kayfabe a little. Let me think on that," Hunter said thoughtfully. "I'll talk it over with Vince too, and I'll get back to you."

"I won't have any say on anything backstage will I?" Bayley had felt like she needed to ask the question, even though was sure that she knew the answer.

"For now, no. But we'll see how you go as commissioner for a while, and maybe at some point we can look at giving you a small amount of input. Mick has some input, and Shane and Daniel do on Smackdown. They don't gey a final say on anything of course, but they do have a voice."

Bayley realised that it was easy for Hunter to tell her maybe, only for it to never happen, but even a maybe was more than she had expected to get. Hunter was an inspiration to her in so many ways, including the way that he had made the transition from full time wrestler to full time businessman within WWE. Who knew, maybe she could do the same one day? That was the beauty of WWE, she thought. Nothing was impossible if you worked hard enough at it, and had the backing of the McMahons, or Hunter, as she did. Then another idea occurred to her. She didn't have to input into the creative process to learn about it. For a moment she almost didn't say anything, but then she told herself to have confidence, that was the message that Hunter had been trying to hammer home after all.

"Could I maybe sit in on a creative meeting?" she asked tentatively. "I know you just said I won't have input, but that doesn't matter. I'd like to just sit in the meeting so I can listen and learn how things are done. Would that be a problem?"

"No, I don't think that will be a problem."

* * *

"The Coup de Grâce!" Michael Cole called out when Finn Balor hit his finishing move on Seth Rollins. "Balor into the cover, the title's on the line! One! Two!"

"Three! He did it!" Saxton yelled. "Finn Balor is the Universal Champion!"

Stephanie McMahon was shown sitting at ringside, looking on in open-mouthed shock as the realisation set in that just like that, she was out of a job.

"Stephanie!" Corey Graves cried out, sounding as devastated as she looked. "Stephanie, do something! This can't happen."

"Oh, it's happening," Cole replied happily. "Stephanie McMahon gambled it all on Seth Rollins, in an attempt to gain total control of Monday Night Raw, but her horse came up short."

The shot changed to show Mick Foley, who had also been sitting at ringside. He was now joining in with the fans, all of whom were celebrating not only the crowning of a popular new champion, but also the end of the years of tyrrany inflicted on everyone by The Authority.

"He came up big time short," Saxton agreed, not really trying to sound neutral about it. "And that man, Mick Foley, will now be in charge of Monday Night Raw. Stephanie McMahon is no longer commissioner, effective immediately."

While the disgraced Seth Rollins retreated to the back, Finn Balor spent a minute or so celebrating his fantastic win, including exchanging a handshake and a hug with Foley. The commentators hyped up the match, Finn's victory, and how much hard work he had put into his career to reach this point. Eventually, the new champion left the ring to Raw's General Manager.

"Let's hear it for our new Uinversal Champion, Finn Balor!" Foley began. Balor's music faded out and the crowd cheered loudly again. Finn turned just before walking through the curtain and raised his newly-won title belt in acknowledgement.

"This has to be the worst night in the history of WWE," Graves complained.

In the ring, Foley was grinning like an idiot as the fans started chanting his name, overjoyed by the prospect of Raw being under his management from now on. "Thank you. Actually, everyone, I have to be honest for a moment. What I should be doing is planning for tomorrow night, when we're going to have the first Raw of the Foley era, but there's something I need to do first. Maybe you'd like to join me? I think we should all sing goodbye to Stephanie McMahon!"

Stephanie had seemingly only just recovered her senses enough to realise that she had to leave, and was walking around the ring towards the entrance walkway, deliberately refusing to look at Mick. She had to complete the journey with the utter humiliation of Foley leading the fans in a rendition of Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye. More observant fans might have wondered why she hadn't thrown a fit and started crying, and they might also have questioned why she was carrying a microphone on her walk of shame. Alarm bells definitely started ringing when she stopped in front of the stage and turned back towards the ring, with a sneer on her face.

"You really think you won some kind of victory tonight, don't you, Mick?" she asked condescendingly.

"What does she mean by that?" Cole asked nervously.

Stephanie shook her head sadly. "Oh, Mick. You're so naïve. Did you really think there was ever going to be a set of circumstances where I would allow you to be the one who's running Monday Night Raw? Over my dead body, Mick. You see, we signed a contract that said that if Seth Rollins lost, which unfortunately he did, I would have to leave. What it didn't say was that I didn't have the right to appoint my own successor, if that unlikely event actually did come to pass."

Foley was shown with a confused expression on his face.

"You're standing there with a 'what is that supposed to mean' expression on your face, so allow me to enlighten you. Yes, I have to resign my position as commissioner effective immediately, and I will live up to my word, but the person who replaces me in charge of Monday Night Raw will not be you, Mick. My replacement will be someone who knows how to run Raw properly; someone who understands business; someone who believes in the same set of principles that I believe in."

"Principles? That's a joke," Saxton scoffed. The crowd had descended into silence now, thanks to Stephanie's buzzkill of an announcement that Foley had been outsmarted.

"Have you ever heard the phrase out of the frying pan, into the fire, Mick? Because that's what's happened to you here tonight." With a self-satisfied smile, she gave a theatrical introduction to her replacement, pointing to the curtain. "Allow me to introduce the new commissioner of Monday Night Raw."

A new version of Bayley's entrance music played, this one with a much shortened intro segment. The crowd erupted into boos when they realised that the screwjob by The Authority was complete. All that had happened was that one corporate bitch had been replaced by another.

"Oh no," Cole said quietly when Bayley walked out to join Stephanie in front of the stage. She had a small pin in the shape of the Raw logo on the left lapel of her suit jacket, using it as a symbol of both her power and her allegiance to the show that was now hers to run as she saw fit. "Bayley Martinez is our new commissioner. If there was anyone I wouldn't have wanted to replace Stephanie, it's Bayley."

Bayley shook hands with Stephanie and offered a few words of commiseration on her loss of power, but Stephanie seemed to more interested in rubbing the abrupt turn of events in Foley's face by raising Bayley's hand in celebration while smiling at her adversary. In the ring, Foley shook his head, downhearted by the way that he had been made to look a fool.

"Bayley Martinez is the new commissioner of Monday Night Raw," Graves reiterated. Unlike everyone else, he seemed thrilled by the prospect. "This is fantastic news. I really thought we were going to have to suffer the bias and incompetence of Mick Foley, but no, Stephanie had the foresight to leave us in the capable hands of Bayley Martinez. I can't wait for tomorrow night's show now, the first of the Martinez era."

"The Martinez era starts tomorrow night," Cole said, bringing the show to a close. "God help us all."

* * *

"The Martinez era," Dana Brooke scoffed, shaking her head in disgust. She and Alicia had been watching the end of the pay-per-view on a monitor in their locker room. "She's got her own damn era now. Like I said before, why? Why Bayley? Why does that stupid nerd get to be the person in charge of Raw, while we don't even get on the show? It pisses me off so bad!"

Alicia Fox was sitting beside her, with her head propped on her hands disconsolately. "You know what the next thing's going to be? Bayley Martinez will be the number one trend on Twitter. Won't that be great?"

"I didn't even think about that," Dana said, then growled in frustration. "I just can't believe that the Martinez era is a thing. It could have been the Brooke era, or the Fox era, but no, it's got to be Bayley."

"Hey, you know what I heard earlier?" Alicia asked, turning to look at her friend. She'd made the question sound like she'd discovered a way to make money grow on tress.

"What?" Dana snapped, wrapped up in her own annoyance.

"I heard she's dating Seth Rollins. Like, for real dating him, not on-screen."

Dana snorted in disgust and shook her head again. "Well, say no more then. That explains everything. Worm your way into being Hunter's favourite on NXT, then when you come up to the main roster, start fucking someone who's another of Hunter's favourites and a main event guy as well. You have to give her this much credit: she's not stupid. I mean, look where shacking up with John Cena got Nikki Bella. You know what needs to happen?"

"What?"

"Someone needs to call her out on all of her bullshit."


	19. Chapter 19

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Seth asked Bayley, for the third time.

"Baby, I suggested it," she replied, smiling at him over the top of her coffee cup. "I wouldn't have done that if I minded, would I?"

Seth had to concede that point. It was Monday morning. They were in a local coffee shop, waiting for Roman to join them for breakfast. The chance to meet up with his friend was something that Seth had jumped at. Much like Seth and Bayley, Roman had now decided to switch up his routine so that he traveled to the next town right after a show, rather than waiting until the next day. It was news that Seth was particularly pleased about, as it would mean the chance to see a lot more of his friend, especially if Bayley's suggestion worked out.

Only a couple more minutes passed before Roman walked in and approached their table. He hardly knew Bayley, so he decided not to start into Seth with the kind of sarcastic comment that was normal between the two of them. "Morning guys," he greeted them with a smile. "How are you?" He pulled the chair beside Seth out from under table and sat down.

Bayley responded with a friendly smile of her own. "Hi, Roman."

"We're good. How are you?" Seth asked.

The honest answer was that Roman could have felt better. While it was great to see his close friend, he would have liked to do it without bringing bad news with him. "I'm good. I've got some news though, that you're probably not going to be thrilled about."

"Oh?" Seth raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I saw Enzo and Cass on the way out of the hotel this morning. We had a quick chat, and Cass asked me if it was true that you were dating Bayley. He already knew it was true, but I just said he should speak to you about it. I don't know who's been talking, or if someone's seen you kissing or something, but the news is out there, one way or another."

It was hardly the most surprising news of all time; nothing remained a secret for long backstage at WWE. Even so, being the subject of everyone's gossip wasn't Bayley's idea of fun. If anything, the best course of action now would be for them to go about their business as usual, without trying to be secretive at all about the fact that they were dating. What would be the point in trying to act like there was nothing to the rumours, when everyone would know the truth anyway? Besides, she was proud to be dating Seth, and she knew that he was proud to be dating her too. This wasn't some kind of sleazy affair, or a one night stand after too many drinks, this was a proper relationship between two people who really loved each other. Plus there was the fact that they were almost certainly going to have to tell Hunter about it anyway when they got to the arena later in the day, in order to get some time off together to start working on their new home.

"Maybe we should go see Hunter when we get to the arena and tell him about us?" Seth suggested, looking at her with a bit of a grimace on his face. Clearly he had been thinking along similar lines, but wasn't sure how she would react to it. "I've been thinking that we'd probably have to tell him anyway, honestly. We can hardly keep it a secret when we ask him if we can both have the same week off."

"I think we should tell him," Bayley agreed. "You're right, we were going to have to do it anyway, and the last thing I would want to happen is for him to hear people spreading rumors about us. It would make it seem like we're actively trying to hide our relationship for some reason, when the truth is that all we've been doing is minding our own business. I'm not afraid to tell people that I'm dating you, in fact I'm proud of it."

Seth wasn't usually the one who blushed, but this time he was, mostly because Roman was sitting next to him. Bayley's words had really touched him, and he felt the same way about her. People might go around whispering to each other that he and Bayley had rushed into a relationship, and that they thought there was something strange about the whole thing, but that was their issue as far as he was concerned. Other people's opinions we're irrelevant to him. They were happy, that was all that mattered. The gossip would soon change to another topic anyway, once people got used to seeing him and Bayley with each other. Locker room romances were hardly uncommon after all.

He reached across the table and took her hand. "I'm proud to be with you too. We'll go see Hunter together when we get to the arena. We can tell him about the house too, and I can call in the favour he owes me to get us some time off."

Seeing how they interacted with each other, Roman couldn't help himself from smiling. He knew what it was like to be with someone he truly loved, and he saw those same signs in both Seth and Bayley. He had to be happy for his friend, who hadn't had much luck with his past relationships. It really did seem like Bayley was the one for him. None of that meant that the scene couldn't be memorised for teasing Seth at a later date of course.

"You could ask him to arrange for a locker room for the two of you," he suggested. "If you wanted to, I mean."

"Good idea," Seth said. "Would you like that, Bayley?"

"Yes I would, and it would be another thing that would stop people feeling the need to gossip about us too. There's not much point in gossiping about a relationship that's out there in the open, is there?"

"Jealousy could be a problem though," Seth observed. "I don't mean that to sound arrogant, it's just true. Look at some of the things people have said about John and Nikki for example. I've heard some mean things said about both of them. People can be really nasty when they're jealous. They see other people happy and they just can't deal with it. It's sad really."

"If anyone says anything mean to me about you, they'll see a different side of me," Bayley promised him. The aggression in her tone surprised her as much as either of the other two people at the table. There was something about the thought of someone talking Seth down that pushed a button inside of her. There was no way she could, or would tolerate that kind of thing, not about her man. Although she was often a shy and nervous person, she knew how to stand up for herself when it was required, as one or two people who had tried to bully her in the past had found out to their cost.

* * *

"Come in!" Hunter's voice boomed from the other side of the door.

When Bayley opened it and lead Seth into the office, the first thing she felt was a sense of unease and disappointment. Stephanie was in the office too, talking to her husband about something relating to the upcoming Raw show. Speaking to Hunter was something that Bayley was comfortable with, but Stephanie was a different story. Something about her always put Bayley on edge. Talking to Stephanie always made her feel like she was being judged on what she said or did, and that any kind of misstep would quickly be reported back to Vince. Maybe that assessment was unfair, but it was how she felt. Greetings were exchanged all round, then, to Bayley's relief, Stephanie announced that she had some business to go and take care of.

"What can I do for you?" Hunter asked after his wife left the office, while walking around his desk to take his seat. There were no other chairs arranged there, so Seth and Bayley stood in front of the desk.

"We'd like to ask you a couple of things," Seth began, feeling awkward at the prospect of telling his boss about his relationship, even though Hunter actually had no right to judge them. Nothing unprofessional had happened, or would happen, and that was where Hunter's interest should end.

"Go ahead." Hunter leaned back in his chair, relaxing.

"Firstly, could you arrange for Bayley and I to be given a locker room together from now on, please? We're, uh, dating."

Hunter was one of the few who hadn't heard the rumours yet - the bosses were not routinely included in the locker room gossip, for obvious reasons. He could tell that Seth had felt awkward about telling him the news, and Bayley looked even more so. They seemed to expect to be given a hard time about it, but that wasn't how he managed his people. His way of thinking was that a company who looked after its staff and kept them happy got the best out of them. Plus there was the fact that he had been in a situation himself where his boss had tried to interfere in his relationship with the woman he loved, and it was something that he wouldn't have wished on anyone. He also knew first hand just how easy it was to fall for someone when you had to act out an on-screen relationship with them. True, in his case the person he had been dating was the boss's daughter, but the principle was the same. No one needed to be given unnecessary grief about their personal life at work.

"Relax, guys. I'm going to give you any grief about it. Hell, it's not really even my business. All I'll say is that as long your work isn't affected by the fact that you're dating, I don't have a problem. But if anything does go wrong in your personal lives, you cannot allow it to affect your work here under any circumstances. You are in an on-screen relationship with each other, and there are no plans to change that. Do we understand each other on that?"

"We do," Seth said, and Bayley nodded her agreement.

"Okay then. I'll make sure you're assigned a locker room together from now on. You said there was a couple of things you wanted to ask me. What's the other one?"

"Remember when you came to me with the idea of turning heel on The Shield? I was reluctant about it, and you talked me into it. You said if I did it you would owe me one."

"I remember," Hunter confirmed, with a due hint of reluctance. "You're calling in the 'one' then, am I right?"

"I'd like to call it in, yeah. You see, the thing is, Bayley and I are buying a house at auction, as a renovation project. It's in a bad state right now. We're talking months of work to get it into a livable condition. What I'm asking for is a week off for both of us when we first buy the house, so that we can spend time over there organising things with contractors and getting the work started. Maybe even two weeks?" he decided to add, figuring there was nothing wrong with trying his luck.

"One week," Hunter said, leaving no room for negotiation. A wry smile did accompany it though. He would have tried the same thing if the roles had been reversed. "When do you need it?"

"We've already viewed a place. The auction is this Wednesday, and luckily we're not working that day. If we win it, we'd like the time off right away."

"So you'd miss next week's Raw, only Bayley's second as commissioner. It's hardly ideal, guys."

"I know," Bayley admitted, fighting to stop herself looking down at the floor in the ongoing battle against nervousness. "Could we maybe film a few things backstage tonight to use next week? It doesn't have to be a big deal that I don't go out to the ring."

Hunter weighed that up for a moment. It could be done. But what to do with Seth? There were big plans in place for him too, although they hadn't been put into motion yet. Tonight could be the first step along that road too, as long as Vince would sign off on it. That shouldn't be a problem, he figured. The plan itself was Vince's anyway. Deciding to level with them, he leaned forward in his chair.

"Okay, I'm going to lay it all out for you. Seth, we're looking to turn you face. The fans are practically begging to cheer you at this point, so we're going to give them what they want. It was probably a mistake not to bring you back as a face after your knee injury, to be honest. Anyway, we're going to turn you by having you align with Roman, after you're both repeatedly beaten down by Owens and Jericho, and eventually Rusev too, who also decides to side with them."

"Aligning with Roman? That sounds awesome to me," Seth said, smiling in delight.

"I wasn't finished. We're also coming up with ways to legitimise you, Bayley, as Raw's commissioner. As you both know, the concept behind the character is for her to be divisive rather than hated, which means we need her to do some things which people will cheer as well as things that they won't like, such as dealing with the striking referees. The idea is that after Hell in a Cell, Shane will invite Bayley to Smackdown to discuss the possibility of negotiating a trade deal for a superstar or two. Bayley will be seen to come out of those negotiations with the better deal, giving Raw's fans who support her some more ammunition to use against those who don't."

"Where's this going?" Seth asked, wondering if his guess could possibly be correct.

"Bayley is going to work out a trade which sends Finn Balor and Paige to Smackdown, in exchange for Dean Ambrose and Nikki Bella. The outcome of the negotiations wouldn't be announced until following week's Raw. We've already worked out how that segment is going to go. Roman will go to the ring first, after getting beaten down again the previous week. He will call out Owens, Jericho and Rusev, saying that he wants all three of their asses, right there and then. Seth, you will come out instead and say that you also want a piece of the three of them, so he doesn't have to do it alone. The crowd will go crazy of course, but then your music will hit, Bayley. You will come out and start crowing about how you've pulled off a real coup for Raw, how you out-negotiated Shane McMahon, and all the rest of it. You will say that you've seen enough of Seth getting beaten down by Owens, Jericho and Rusev, so you decided to bring in some backup for a three on three match to be held at Survivor Series. Owens and the others will be on one team, and the other team will be Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and this man, one of Raw's two new signings."

"And then Dean's music hits," Seth said, getting an adrenaline rush at the mere thought of it. WWE were actually doing a reunion of The Shield. It was blockbuster material beyond compare. The fans would go absolutely crazy for it.

"No, _Shield's_ music hits," Hunter clarified, with a satisfied smile. "I think it's safe to say that will get a reaction."

"And I get the credit for being the one who brought The Shield back," Bayley said excitedly. As was often the case at times like this, she had to restrain herself from jumping up and down or making excited noises. Doing that would hardly look professional in front of Hunter.

"Exactly," the boss said. "We're talking a good few weeks in the future there though. As far as tonight is concerned, we need a way to get you off the show next week, Seth. So what we'll do is have Rusev beat the hell out of you backstage after your match. Then we can have him cut a promo next week about how he beat Seth Rollins' ass so badly that he was too afraid to even show up for Raw, and of course the commentators would clarify that you're actually at home because you're nursing your injuries, and you will be back the following week. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about, it's been done enough times before."

"Sounds good to me," Seth said, still thinking about the reunion of The Shield. He could only think of one other time when he'd been this excited about something in wrestling, and that was when he'd gotten the news about successfully cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase for the WWE title in the Wrestlemania main event.

"Me too. Thanks so much for helping us out, Hunter," Bayley said.

"Yeah, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it," Seth added.

"You're welcome," Hunter smiled. "Now get out of here before I change my mind."


	20. Chapter 20

"There she is, over there," Dana Brooke muttered under her breath. She was standing at the back of the line in catering, with Alicia Fox beside her.

Following where her friend was looking, Alicia saw that she was talking about Bayley, who was sitting at a table with Charlotte. They were chatting away as they ate, looking as happy as could be. And why wouldn't they? she thought. They were the ones who were always given the opportunities. They were Hunter's favourites. They were the ones who everyone in the locker room talked about. Charlotte had once been by far the biggest offender in that regard, with everyone harping on about how she was the best female athlete in the business, had never been beaten on pay-per-view, and all the rest of the nonsense. But now Bayley was the hot topic, all of a sudden, and neither Dana or Alicia could understand it. All Vince had done was give her a stupid heel turn and put her in a business suit, then suddenly she was the next big thing. Why? What was actually special at all about Bayley?

Then the answer had revealed itself. She was sleeping with Seth Rollins. That explained everything. If you wanted to make it big on the women's roster, apparently you either had to be Ric Flair's daughter, or you had to be screwing one of the main event guys, ideally someone who was a favourite of either Vince or Hunter. It had damn sure worked for Nikki Bella when she had started dating John Cena, and it was working for Bayley now too. The fact that Seth had always been favoured by Hunter was no secret to anyone, and Alicia had actually been training in the ring that first night when Hunter had come down to speak to Bayley to tell her about the heel turn. She had seen him hugging her when she had started crying, which was pathetic enough in itself. Crying over getting the kind of push that Hunter had given her. How embarrassing. And what had Hunter actually been saying that night? He'd probably told her not to worry because he would do everything in his power to make her the next big thing, just like he had with Seth.

"Are you going to go over there?" she asked, trying to encourage Dana. Someone needed to say something to Bayley about the game she was playing, but Alicia wasn't particularly keen to do it herself. The possibility of ending up on Hunter's shit list didn't appeal to her. "You said you were going to say something to her."

"I don't know," Dana said quietly. "Do you think I should? You know what she's like, she might just go crying to Hunter."

"You're pissed off at having to put Charlotte over, and we're both pissed off at Bayley getting herself pushed for no reason. I'd say something if I was you. If no one says anything, nothing's going to change."

Dana did consider telling her friend to go ahead and say something herself, but then she decided that she would look like the more courageous of the two if she did it herself. When all was said and done, something did need to be said to Bayley. Just watching her smiling and laughing as she talked with Charlotte was as irritating as someone scraping their nails down a blackboard.

* * *

"...Then he fell right on his ass," Charlotte said, making Bayley laugh even harder than she already was.

"Stop, I can't breathe," Bayley managed to say as she wiped the tears from her eyes. It had been a long time since she cried laughing, and it felt good.

Charlotte was about to continue with her story, not wanting to let up while she had her friend in the palm of her hand, but before she could go on she noticed Dana Brooke approaching their table. Although she personally had no time for Dana, disliking both her arrogant attitude and her sense of entitlement, she decided to be civil. After all, they would soon be working a program together, albeit it reluctantly from Charlotte's point of view.

"Hello, Dana. Can I help you with something?"

Bayley turned to face the new arrival, her buzz quickly killed.

"No you can't," Dana snapped, locking eyes with Bayley and looking at her like something she might have stepped on in the street. "I just wanted to congratulate 'Commissioner Martinez' here on her push. Way to fuck yourself to the top, girl."

"Excuse me, what?" Bayley asked, taken aback by what she'd heard.

"You got yourself a huge push by fucking Seth Rollins. I just wanted to congratulate you."

Bayley felt her blood starting to boil. She could feel that her hands were shaking with rage as she stood up and got in Dana's face. "You'd better watch what you're saying, Dana." Charlotte also got up to come to her friend's defense, but things happened too quickly.

Reacting angrily to Bayley standing up, Dana shoved her. "Get out of my face, bitch."

"Don't touch me!" Bayley screamed, and pushed Dana as hard as she could, sending her staggering backwards, losing her balance. Before she could steady herself, she tripped over her own feet and feel backwards onto one side of a table, where Cesaro and Sheamus were eating. Dana's impact with the table sent it toppling over, sending her to the floor along with both Cesaro and Sheamus' half eaten plates of food, as well as Cesaro's cup of coffee, all of which ended up covering her. Cersaro had only just managed to jump out of the way to prevent his suit from being ruined.

Charlotte burst out laughing at the sight of Dana lying on the floor, covered in salad, mayonnaise and bits of potato, as well as the contents of the coffee cup which had also spilled on her. She had to react quickly though, because Alicia Fox came storming over, looking like she was intending to take a swing at Bayley.

"What the hell?" Alicia screamed at Bayley. "You want to start getting violent? Let's go! Me and you, right now!"

"Back off!" Charlotte ordered, standing in front of Bayley so that Alicia couldn't get to her. "You're going to have to through me to get to her, and we both know that's not happening."

"She pushed me first!" Bayley pointed out at the same time. "Don't come over here trying to put the blame on me!"

At that moment a familiar voice made them all stop in their tracks. "What the hell is going on in here?" Stephanie McMahon yelled as she came marching across the room towards them with an angry expression on her face. Violence backstage was seriously frowned upon in WWE. Everyone else in the room was standing now, wanting to get a good look at what was happening, and to see who was going to get the riot act now that Stephanie had happened to show up at the worst time, or the perfect time, depending on what point of view you looked at it from. Sheamus and Cesaro helped Dana up off the floor, then picked the table back up.

"I said what's going on in here?" Stephanie demanded again when she approached them, looking the mess that was Dana up and down.

"She pushed me over, into their table," Dana complained, pointing at Bayley whilst trying to make herself sound like the innocent party in the whole thing.

"That's bullshit. You pushed her first," Charlotte snarled, taking a menacing step towards Dana, who was trying to brush the worst of the food off her T-shirt.

"Enough!" Stephanie screeched at the top of her voice. Pointing first at Dana, then at Bayley, she ordered, "You, and you, outside, now."

If Bayley wasn't still so angry, she might have burst into tears as she followed Stephanie across the room. It was a real walk of shame, with everyone watching them in silence. Some of them had to hide the fact that they were laughing at how ridiculous Dana looked. Bayley had no idea why Dana had decided to come at her, saying those horrible things, seemingly for no reason at all. Jealousy had to be the explanation. As Seth had told her before, people could get nasty when they were jealous. Everyone knew that Dana Brooke had always had a much higher opinion of herself than anyone else had of her, so she probably thought that she should have been given the job as commissioner. What a joke that was. But now, thanks to Dana, both of them were going to get int trouble for fighting, and Dana seemed intent on blaming everything on her too. She had no intention of letting that happen.

"Right, who's going to go first?" Stephanie asked heatedly once they were out in the hallway. Bayley could see in her eyes that the consequences for at least one of them were going to be serious. "I want to know exactly what happened. I'll hear from one of you at a time."

"She came over to me and accused me of, uh, sleeping my way to the top," Bayley stammered. "I got up and told her that she should watch what she was saying, then she pushed me."

"That's bullshit," Dana snapped, even though it was completely truthful.

Stephanie held up a hand to silence her. "I said I'll hear from one of you at a time. You'll get your say, but until then, shut up. Go on, Bayley."

"Like I said, she pushed me, I pushed her back and she tripped and fell onto Cesaro's table. The table fell over, and she ended up looking like that." Bayley gestured to the food and coffee stains on Dana's T-shirt.

"I suppose you think that's funny, do you?" Dana snarled, taking a step towards Bayley, who instinctively backed away.

"Stop!" Stephanie yelled. "Don't you dare react to her like that in front of me!"

"I only asked if I could sit at her table!" Dana yelled right back. "Then she got up and pushed me over! Now I'm standing here covered in coffee and food, and she's trying to blame it on me!"

Stephanie turned to look at Bayley and studied her for a second. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Her story definitely sounded a lot more like the truth than Dana's, and unwarranted aggression definitely didn't seem like Bayley's kind of thing at all. When all was said and done, Hunter was the one who was responsible for the talent, so Stephanie decided that he could make the decision on what action to take. If it came to it, there were plenty of other witnesses in catering who could clarify exactly what had happened. Charlotte had accused Dana of lying, but then she was Bayley's friend, so that was hardly reliable testimony.

"I'm telling the truth, Stephanie," Bayley said quietly, looking down at the floor.

"Both of you, follow me," Stephanie ordered. "We'll see what Hunter wants to do about this."

Now Bayley did have tears in her eyes as she walked along the hallway. What if Dana somehow convinced Hunter and Stephanie that her version of events was true, and she got the blame for it? Her push could be taken away from her. Violence against a colleague carried a suspension too, if Hunter chose to enforce it. What if Dana actually managed to get her suspended? It was too horrible to even contemplate.

When they reached Hunter's office, Stephanie opened the door and walked in without knocking. Hunter was in there alone, making some notes on a copy of the script for Raw. He looked up when they entered, and saw that Stephanie wasn't happy at all about something. "Steph? What's happened?"

"These two," Stephanie pointed as Bayley and Dana filed into the office behind her. "Fighting in catering. I've heard both stories, and to be honest I think Dana's lying to me, but you can hear it for yourself and decide what you want to do."

Hunter's expression had hardened while he was listening to his wife. "Shut the door," he ordered Bayley, who was standing closest to it. After she had done so, he instructed her to tell him what had happened. She repeated the story exactly as it had really happened, relieved that Stephanie had found her believable. Hopefully Hunter would do the same.

Hunter looked at Dana. "It's not looking good." His anger was very close to the surface.

"She's lying!" Dana insisted. "All I did was ask if could sit at her table. The next think I know, she gets up and pushes me over. I fell onto a table and ended up covered in all of this crap."

"And if I send Stephanie to bring some witnesses from catering, that's what they'll tell me, is it?"

"Well, Charlotte won't, will she?" Dana huffed. "She's Bayley's friend, so she'll obviously blame it all on me."

"She's lying, Hunter," Bayley said weakly. "I was sitting there having lunch with my friend when she came over and started insulting me for no reason. I wouldn't push someone over for asking if they could sit at my table, you know that. I'd find it hard enough even to say no."

Hunter looked back at Dana again. "Why did you want to sit at Bayley's table?"

The question took Dana by surprise. She hadn't thought of a possible answer to that ahead of time. The hesitation and the very brief look of surprise on her face told Hunter that he was right in what he had already strongly suspected. Bayley's version of events was the truth, or at least much closer to it than Dana's.

"Why are you lying, Dana?" Stephanie demanded. Clearly she had noticed the same thing.

"I'm not lying!" Dana snarled, giving Stephanie an evil glare.

"Don't you dare talk to my wife like that!" Hunter roared at her. Bayley took step back towards the door, even though his anger wasn't directed at her. She had never heard him explode like that before. Dana cowered slightly too. "One thing I can't stand, Dana, is a liar. If you'd have come in here and said that you have a personal problem with Bayley, admitted that you stepped over the line by insulting and pushing her, then promised me that it would never happen again, things just might have gone differently for you. But by lying to me and trying to put all of the blame on Bayley, you've left me no choice. Violence backstage is something we take very seriously, so my decision is that you will be suspended for thirty days, effective immediately."

"That's not fair!" Dana protested.

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Want to make it sixty days?"

"No."

"Then get out of my office, go pack up your things, and leave. Now. And when your suspension is over, you better come back with a very different attitude to Stephanie, and to your colleagues. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Dana replied sullenly, then turned and walked out of the office, making sure to close the door quietly behind her rather than slamming it.

Bayley was incredibly relieved that Hunter had seen through Dana's lies. She just wanted to get out of the office so that she could go and find Seth. Telling him about the whole thing would her cry, but more importantly, he would be there to comfort her. Unfortunately, Hunter wasn't done.

"You've really disappointed me here, Bayley. I know Dana came over to you and insulted you, and she put her hands on you first, but if someone does that, you do _not_ react by pushing them over. You should have been the bigger person and walked away."

"I was minding my own business, eating my lunch," Bayley protested. "Why should I walk away from my meal because she comes over and starts saying mean things to me?"

"Would you rather have walked away, or would you rather be standing here right now?" Hunter asked rhetorically. "I know you wouldn't have liked to get up and leave, but the point is that you should be the bigger person. You're better than this, Bayley. I know that, and so do you. If anyone here puts their hands on you again, you report it to me, Steph, or Vince. You do _not_ retaliate yourself. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Bayley said, forcing herself not to break eye contact with him.

"Good, because this is a formal warning about your conduct. If I hear about you getting involved in any kind of violence again, unless it's necessary self defense, which this wasn't, you'll be sitting out thirty days too. Now go."

* * *

"Jesus Christ!" Roman exclaimed when someone started pounding on their locker room door.

Seth rushed over to the door and opened it. Seeing Bayley standing there took him by surprise, then he was even more taken aback by the fact that she burst into tears and rushed into his arms. "What's happened, angel?" he asked, wrapping her up in his arms as he kicked the door closed. Roman looked on with a concerned expression on her face.

"Dana Brooke came at me in catering," Bayley blurted out. "She said I only got my push because I'm sleeping with you. I told her to be careful what she said and she pushed me. I pushed her back and she fell over into a table. She got covered in food. Then Stephanie came in and we both got in trouble with Hunter. She got suspended and I got a warning. I didn't ask for any of it, Seth. I was just..."

"Shhh," Seth said softly, stroking her hair. Her short, rushed sentences hadn't been easy to understand. It was hard for him to keep his own anger in check, not that losing his cool was going to help anything at this point, after Hunter had already dealt with the situation. He'd done so pretty fairly too, Seth had to admit. Dana deserved at least a suspension for what she had said to Bayley, as well as putting her hands on her, but then Bayley shouldn't have retaliated physically either. He wasn't going to say that to her though, not while she was upset like this. "Don't cry, babe. Dana's a nasty, spiteful piece of shit. She always has been. Hopefully she's halfway to getting herself fired now. Hunter obviously knows you weren't the one who started all of this, but he couldn't let you off with no punishment if you pushed her over."

"Why did she say that though?" Bayley asked, her voice muffled by the fact that she was talking into his chest.

"Because she's scum," Roman answered before Seth could. "She's jealous of you because you're more talented than she is, plain and simple."

"He's right," Seth added. "She just wanted to say something nasty to get under your skin. Please don't cry anymore. She's really not worth it. You're so much better than she is on every level."

Bayley knew that he was right. What she had really done by pushing Dana like that was stoop down to her level, and that was perhaps the most disappointing thing of all. "I let myself down," she mumbled. "I shouldn't have pushed her."

"No, you shouldn't," Seth agreed. It felt best to be honest. "But you can only learn from a mistake by making it. You were right to stand up for yourself, but you have to draw the line at putting your hands on someone."

Bayley didn't say anything else. There was nothing more she wanted to say. She was intelligent enough to realise that although she was upset at the moment, she had learned an important lesson that would do her a lot of good in the future. In a way it fitted in with her decision to try and live her character as much as possible. It was important to act professional at all times, even when faced with someone like Dana Brooke, who barely even understood the meaning of the word.

"You're right, Seth. I won't make a mistake like that again, I promise."

Seth glanced over at Roman. His friend nodded as well as giving him an encouraging smile. Bayley was still new to the main roster, and she was still learning, but the main thing was that she _was_ learning.


	21. Chapter 21

Raw opened with the shot focused on the commentary table.

"Welcome everybody, to Monday Night Raw! I'm Michael Cole, alongside Byron Saxton and Corey Graves. Last night at Clash of Champions, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the new WWE Universal Champion. That victory also meant that Stephanie McMahon was forced to resign as commissioner of Monday Night Raw. We expected that the position would be given to Mick Foley, but that's not what happened. Stephanie had found a loophole in the terms of the contract for the match, and had appointed her own successor before Clash of Champions, in the event that she lost. Now, before tonight's show gets underway, we need to bring you and update on what has happened earlier today involving our new commissioner, Bayley Martinez."

"As you may know," Saxton took over, "We have an ongoing referee strike on Monday Night Raw. The referees walked out in protest over unsafe working conditions, after several incidents where superstars inadvertently, or sometimes even deliberately, struck them while they were trying to officiate matches. The referees are also claiming that they are underpaid. It is our understanding that senior official Mike Chioda sat down with Commissioner Martinez earlier today to discuss negotiating a return to work. Those talks broke down after Martinez made guarantees regarding safe working conditions for Raw's officials, but refused point blank to offer any increase in pay."

"As well she should," Graves added. "If this is a sign of things to come, I'm very encouraged by the resolve shown by Bayley Martinez. Referees cannot be allowed to hold our show to ransom. The commissioner told Chioda that if he and his people continued to strike, scab referees would be brought in to officiate, as they did last night at Clash of Champions, and she warned him that any attempt to stop those referees coming to work would be dealt with in the strongest possible manner."

"And now we know what she meant," Cole said, not hiding his contempt. "We're now going to show you what happened just a short time ago, outside the arena."

The shot changed to show the picketing referees outside the arena. An equal number of burly security staff stood nearby, watching them in silence. A small bus pulled up to the curb, and five referees emerged. Upon seeing this, Chioda and his men moved to block the path to the nearby arena entrance door, intent on not letting the scabs get into the building. That was when the security staff sprang into action, walking over to the striking referees and attacking them without so much as a warning. The beat down only took moments, and the scab referees were then lead into the building.

"You see here, Bayley Martinez's security staff beating the hell out of our referees, in a truly reprehensible act of violence," Cole had narrated the action in disgust.

"They were warned," Graves reminded him. "They were specifically told that any attempt to prevent the scab referees from coming to work would be dealt with in the strongest possible manner. I say this is a good thing. Our new commissioner proved herself to be a woman of her word, and she showed that she is prepared to do what's best for Monday Night Raw."

"How is that kind of violence against our own employees what's best for Raw?" Saxton demanded.

"You think we'd have a better show without any referees?"

* * *

After the first match of the night was over, Mick Foley's music hit, to a generous ovation.

"Ah, now this should be interesting," Cole observed as Mick started to make his way down to the ring, looking distinctly unhappy. "There has been speculation today on what Mick Foley's status is on Monday Night Raw. When Finn Balor won the match last night, Mick must have thought that he had just secured himself the commissioner's position, but it wasn't to be. Now what does the future hold? There has been speculation that he might even come out here tonight to tender his resignation as general manager."

"Do you think Commissioner Martinez would want that to happen or not?" Saxton wondered. "We know that the two of them don't see eye to eye, but at the same time, there can be no doubt that Mick has done a good job booking matches since his appointment, and there's also an argument to be made for having some sort of continuity in Raw's management."

"If I was Bayley Martinez, I would be happy to accept Foley's resignation," Graves said. "I'd want to appoint someone I believed in, someone who didn't have their own agenda to peruse, which Mick quite obviously does. The way he got into conflict with Stephanie McMahon was about as far from professional as you can imagine."

Cole just gave a derogatory grunt in response to that.

In the ring, Foley was ready to speak, although he had to wait for some of the fans to finish chanting his name. "I admit it," he began. "Stephanie McMahon got one over on me. I assumed that if Finn Balor won the match against Seth Rollins and became the new Universal Champion last night at Clash of Champions, which is exactly what he did, that I would become the new commissioner of Monday Night Raw. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. There has been speculation today regarding my intentions, so I decided to come out here and tell you..."

He was interrupted by Bayley's new, slightly modified entrance music with the shorter intro sequence. The crowd booed her arrival quite aggressively as she quickly walked down to the ring, dressed as usual in an expensive business suit. Her jacket was unbottoned, revealing that she was wearing her Raw Women's Championship belt around her waist. The Raw logo pin had pride of place again on her lapel.

"Now things are getting interesting," Graves said, sucking up already. "Here comes the our new commander-in-chief. She's already shown tonight that she will take decisive action to ensure that Raw's best interests are served. Could we be about to see our new commissioner request the resignation of general manager Mick Foley?"

"I'm deeply concerned about this whole thing," Cole said. "I know it's Bayley's first night in charge, but what I've seen really does worry me. Could this be the start of a reign of terror that even puts The Authority to shame? Have we gone from bad to worse? And will Raw suffer against Smackdown as a result. A lot of questions need to be answered by Martinez about her plans to take us forward."

A further volley of boos came Bayley's way when she entered the ring and her music faded out. Foley was kind enough to fetch a microphone for her. Looking around at the unhappy fans with a look of disappointment on her face, she waited a moment before speaking.

"Thank you for that warm reception. I honestly expected better, given the fact that I'm the one who is going to lead Monday Night Raw to become the best wrestling show the world has ever seen. The reason I came out here, Mick, and I'll address you in a moment, is that I wanted to make it perfectly clear to everyone in the locker room, and the fans around the world, what my intentions are now that I am charge of Raw. I've already been fielding questions all day on what my policies will be. Will be I looked to continue in a similar vein to Stephanie McMahon's administration, or will I be looking to take Raw in a different direction?

"Well, I can tell you now that I will _not_ be running Raw in the same manner that Stephanie did. I admire Stephanie in many ways, but the favouritism she displayed towards certain superstars was not professional, and neither was the conflict that developed between Stephanie and you, Mick. Neither of those things were in the best interests of Raw. _That_ is what I am interested in. Whatever policies or decisions are best for Raw will be the policies and decisions that I implement, in order to make our show the most dominant force the world of wrestling has ever known. Make no mistake about it, Smackdown are our competition. It's time that we were focused on bettering them, rather than becoming absorbed in our own petty infighting. For that reason, Mick, I would like to offer you an olive branch."

She paused for a moment to let that sink in. Off microphone, Mick asked her what she meant by that.

"What I mean is that I want you to stay on in your role as general manager. While it's true that we fundamentally disagree on many aspects of how Raw should be run, I admire your talent for booking matches. In addition, there have been concerns raised about the possibility that I may seek to play favourites with certain superstars, particularly Seth Rollins as we are in a relationship. I offer you all a firm commitment that will not be the case, and to prove my sincerity, I would like you, Mick, to continue to work for me, and to continue to book Raw's matches as you see fit. We have a show to run, and I would like us to work together to achieve our common goal, which is to out perform Smackdown. What do you say?"

* * *

"She really is good," Roman said with genuine admiration. He and Seth were watching the action on a monitor in their locker room. Earlier in the day, Seth and Bayley had invited him to travel with them, now that he had changed up his travel routine to match theirs. It was an offer that he had very much appreciated, especially Bayley's part in it, and he had accepted immediately. Some women wouldn't have been nearly as considerate to either their boyfriend or his friends. Although he wouldn't have outright admitted it, Roman missed traveling with Seth. With Dean over on Smackdown and Seth on the road with Bayley, things had felt so different for him recently, unpleasantly so. Thankfully, that was now going to change for the better.

Knowing how nervous Bayley was about her new character, and also taking into account the backstage drama earlier in the day with Dana Brooke, Roman couldn't have been more impressed with her performance in the ring. She really was an extraordinary talent. He could see exactly what Hunter had spotted in her so early on in her time with NXT. Once she stepped through the curtain her natural talent really shone through, regardless of what she had been asked to do. She just went out there and delivered. Stephanie McMahon might have played a more convincing commissioner, but not by much of a margin, and this was Bayley's first night when all was said and done. If Roman had a job on the creative team, he would have pointed at the screen and announced that they were watching someone who was going to be one of the company's biggest stars in the not too distant future.

"She is," Seth agreed proudly. He was hooked on every word of the segment on the screen, feeling like the proudest guy in the world. His girl was something special in so many ways.

* * *

In the ring, Mick Foley had replied to Bayley by speaking out against the way that her security staff had treated the striking referees. He announced that in his opinion, ordering that kind of violence to be inflicted on employees was simply inexcusable under any circumstances, and if the strike came to and end without the referees getting at least a small pay increase as a show of good faith on the part of the management, he considered it to be a travesty.

"I have serious concerns about your style of management and some of your policies, judging by what I've seen and heard here tonight," he went on. "Having said that, I am encouraged by your guarantees regarding favouritism, or should I say the lack of it. What I came out here to say tonight was that I had decided not to resign, and that if you wanted me to go, you would have to fire me. Am I right in thinking you're not going to do that?"

"You are correct," Bayley nodded. "Like I said, I'd like to work with you, Mick. I believe that together we can deal with the problems that Raw currently has, and we can make it the undisputed flagship show of WWE. I'm not asking you to agree with all of my policies. I'm asking you to do is have the strength of character to stick with me and do your job as general manager. When Raw grinds Smackdown into the dirt, you can stand beside me and take your share of the credit for it. Work with me," she emphasised passionately, then held her out for Mick to shake.

Pleasingly to both people in the ring, there was a real mixed reaction from the fans. Whether they were cheering Mick, booing Bayley, booing her comments about Smackdown, or cheering those same comments, or even cheering because they wanted Mick to stick around, Bayley had her first divisive reaction - exactly what Vince McMahon had wanted for her character.

Mick had more to say before he would shake her hand, which she withdrew when he ignored it and started speaking instead. "I'm willing stay on as Raw's general manager, but I'm going to tell you exactly why and under what circumstances. If you agree to what I have to say, then we'll shake hands."

"Go ahead," Bayley allowed.

"The main reason I want to stay on is because I don't like some of the things that you've said and done tonight, Bayley. I also don't like some of the things you've been saying the last couple of weeks about how you see the roster, and how you think the structure of how people are paid should be changed to ensure that main event superstars are paid significantly more than those who are lower on the card. I see that as fundamentally unfair. It could lead to some superstars making a lot less than they do now, for doing the same excellent work."

A small portion of the crowd booed that, clearly agreeing with him that the policy sounded unfair.

"What I intend to do," Mick went on, "is give those people a voice, which I am fairly sure you will not. If you do wish for me to remain as general manager, I'll tell you now that I will speak out about any of your policies which I believe to be unfair. I can see the main event superstars quickly standing behind you, why wouldn't they when you're working to line their pockets as well as your own? I intend to be the voice of the other half of the locker room.

"My first condition of shaking hands with you is that anyone who has concerns about your management can come to me, and I can put those concerns to you for debate _in public_. I want everything to be out in the open. The second condition is that you formally hand over all responsibility for making matches to me. You say there will be no favouritism, I intended to make sure of it." He held his hand out for Bayley to shake, if she agreed to his terms.

"Who do you think you are, Foley?" Graves demanded. "Trying to lay the law down to Commissioner Martinez. She's the one who's in charge, not you. Is the responsibility yours if things go wrong for Raw? No. Is it on your shoulders if Smackdown beats us in the ratings? No. How dare you make demands like that?"

"Foley's conditions sound perfectly reasonable to me," Saxton countered. "Martinez says no favouritism, let's see her prove it."

"Very well, Mick. I'll agree to your conditions," Bayley announced, making it sound more like she had announced that she'd donated a million dollars to charity. She briefly shook his hand, then made to leave the ring, satisfied with her work, but Mick's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Since I'm in charge of making the matches, I think that Women's Championship of yours needs to be defended." Bayley turned back to face him with an icy look in her eyes. "You've recently gained more than one cheap victory over Charlotte, thanks to other people who have been at ringside. I think it's time that Charlotte got a _fair_ rematch, so at our next pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell, that is exactly what will happen. It will be Bayley Martinez going one on one with Charlotte, with everyone in the locker room barred from ringside. We're going to find out of you truly deserve to be the Women's Champion, or if you're just an over-inflated ego in a suit who's badly in need of an ass kicking."

The crowd went wild at that as Bayley looked at Mick as though she wished she could run him over with a truck, both for making the match, and for the insult. Foley's music began to play, and Cole began to summarise the segement for the viewers.

"Mick Foley is still the general manager of Monday Night Raw, and now has sole responsibility for making matches. Mick also appointed himself as a spokesperson for any superstars in the locker room who don't agree with the management of Bayley Martinez. I'm excited to see how that's going to pan out."

"You know what I can't wait to see pan out?" Saxton asked. "The fair match with Martinez that Charlotte's finally going to get at Hell in a Cell. As Mick said, there's an ass kicking with Martinez's name on it which is long over due."

"Can you stop being so biased?" Graves asked hypocritically. "You're talking like Commissioner Martinez has no chance in the ring with Charlotte, when she's already beaten her twice! I think Bayley is, and will continue to be a fantastic Women's Champion, and I think she's already doing a great job as commissioner too."


	22. Chapter 22

"Ours is the next lot," Seth said quietly, checking the paperwork just to make completely sure, even though he knew for certain that he was correct. They had arrived early for the auction, for no other reason than eagerness, and he managed to get seats right near the front. In truth it made no difference where they sat because the auctioneers job was to see a bid from anywhere in the room, but being near the front had helped to settle their nerves a little. Neither of them wanted to lose this house to someone else now that they had decided it was the one for them. Maybe it had been a mistake to get so attached before buying, but it had been impossible not to, especially with Bayley's contagious enthusiasm.

"I know. Lot number thirteen. Lucky for some," Bayley added with a cute little smile. Seth hoped she was right.

"Okay," the auctioneer began loudly, making sure that he had the audience's attention again. "The next lot is number thirteen, with a guide price of one hundred thousand dollars." He went on to give the address of the property, then listed a few of its particulars.

Bayley had already said that she wanted Seth to handle their bidding. He knew what he was doing, and she most definitely didn't. All she knew was that she was so excited that it was hard to sit still. It was really possible that they were moments away from buying themselves a house. She gave Seth's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Who's going to start me off?" the auctioneer asked. "Do I see ninety thousand?"

Bayley expected Seth to raise his hand, but he did nothing. Neither did anyone else.

"Eighty five thousand?"

Still nothing.

"Come on, someone start me off at eighty thousand."

Seth raised his hand this time. Bayley had to try hard to stop herself from making excited noises, even in such a formal setting.

"Eighty thousand I have," the auctioneer said, pointing to Seth with his gavel.

"Eighty five," he corrected almost immediately, pointing towards the back of the room. Bayley glanced around to try and see who the offender was who was trying to interfere with their dreams. She saw another pleasant-looking young couple standing against the back wall, the woman nervously holding onto her man's arm. It struck Bayley that those people probably had similar hopes and dreams for the house. Well, unfortunately for them, that was too bad.

"Ninety," the auctioneer announced, recognising Seth's next bid.

"Ninety five."

Seth raised his hand again. "One hundred thousand."

This time there was hesitation before the next bid. Seth recognised that as a good sign. The other bidder was reluctant to go above the guide price. That showed naivety in Seth's mind. A guide price was exactly that - a guide, not an indication of the actual value of the property. Besides, value could be somewhat subjective. He and Bayley were not property developers. Their purpose for buying the house wasn't to sell it for a profit. They wanted it because they had decided it was the place where they wanted to spend their lives together. What value did a few thousand dollars really have against that? Not enough to stop him bidding any time soon, that was for sure.

"I have one hundred thousand down at the front," the auctioneer announced, trying to urge another bid from the back of the room, which came a moment later. "One hundred and five. It's against you now, sir," he added, looking at Seth.

Seth glanced at Bayley, gave her a reassuring smile, then raised his hand again.

"One hundred and ten thousand," the auctioneer acknowledged, returning his attention to the bidder at the back of the room. Bayley could feel her heart pounding in her chest now. Although Seth seemed to be confident, she didn't like the fact that the price was rising so high. Why couldn't those other people just go away? Thankfully, no further bid seemed to be coming.

"One hundred and ten thousand down at the front. It's against you at the back, sir." Another pause. "I have one hundred ten, and I will sell for one hundred ten. Going once."

The guy at the back of the room shouted something out. Cupping his ear, the auctioneer said, "What?"

"One!" came the reply.

"Okay, I have one hundred and eleven thousand at the back of the room. Against you at the front now, sir."

Seth raised his hand immediately, conveying to the other bidder that their stupid one thousand dollar bid certainly wasn't going to deter him.

"One hundred and twelve thousand I have. One hundred twelve down at the front." Bayley turned around again, wanting to see what the other people were thinking. She was just in time to see the guy shake his head, indicating that he wasn't going to bid again.

"I'll take one more," the auctioneer encouraged, meaning another thousand dollars. "No? Alright. Selling for the first time, for one hundred and twelve thousand dollars, to the gentleman near the front. Second time for one hundred twelve thousand. All done at the back? Are you sure?" He banged his gavel down. "Sold to the gentleman near the front of the room for one hundred and twelve thousand dollars. Your number please, sir?"

Seth held up the numbered card he had been given on entry, which would identify him as the winning bidder. It was official, the house was theirs. He turned to Bayley and kissed her softly on the lips, mindful that they were in a room full of people.

"I'm so excited!" she exclaimed, trying to keep her voice hushed as much as possible. "I love you, Seth."

"I love you too, angel." The way he saw her struggling to sit still in excitement warmed his heart in a way that he couldn't possibly have described.

* * *

The fact that Seth had the money to buy the house at his disposal instead of needing a mortgage made the whole purchasing process so much simpler. A couple of hours of filling in paperwork with a solicitor and a money transfer of the full purchase price was all it had taken for him to get the keys in his hand. Just half an hour after that, he was pulling their hire car into the driveway of their new home for the first time. Technically there was no reason for them to have driven out there. It wasn't as if they could start moving things in, and Seth's appointment with the building contractor that his father had put him in contact with wasn't until the next day. Even so, they had just wanted to go out to the house and have another looked around, now that they owned it.

Keeping the fact that he was buying a house for himself a secret from his father hadn't been as tough as he'd envisioned either. A cover story about a friend who lived in the area and was looking to get some building work done had been enough to get a phone number without further questions being asked. Keeping the house a secret was only a temporary thing, and it had been done for a good reason. Seth had decided to give his parents a real surprise by turning up unannounced at their house later that day, with his girlfriend, who he hadn't even told them about yet. That fact did make him feel bad, but the simple truth was that he had been so busy with Bayley that he had barely spoken to his parents for the past several weeks.

The next thing to do would be meeting Bayley's parents, and that was something that he wasn't particularly looking forward too. He had no doubt that they would be nice people; how could they not be considering how well she had obviously been raised, but any father was naturally protective of their daughter. That was what made Seth nervous about the whole thing. Although Bayley had assured him that her dad would like him and there would be no problems, he knew that was an easy thing to say, yet the reality of the first encounter could easily prove her wrong.

"I still can't believe it's really ours," Bayley breathed, leaning forward to get a better look out of the windshield as Seth killed the engine. Right now the house wouldn't have looked like anything special at all to anyone else, in fact it would have looked like a shit hole, but of course they had known that heading into the auction. Now it was time for the work to begin, or at least the planning of it.

"Well it is," Seth replied with a smile. "Come on, let's go in."

They got out of the car and walked up to the front door. After Seth unlocked it and gave it a very firm shove, which was required to get it to open, they walked into what was now their house. Calling it a home wasn't right, not yet. Following Seth into the house, Bayley looked around, thinking of the amount of work and time that was going to be required before they could actually move in. The work wasn't something that she was going to shy away from though. She had actually been looking forward to working on the house since they had first viewed it. There was no doubt that it would be challenging, but in challenge lay reward. In this case the reward would be a beautiful home that they could say they had created personally, together.

"There's a lot to do, Bayley," Seth said, looking around the entrance hall. Deciding where to start was a difficult enough job, aside from fixing the roof, which obviously had to be done before any of the internal work could commence.

Bayley walked up to him and nestled against him when he put an arm around her. It was something that she did instinctively now, loving the feeling of being held by him. "I know there is, baby. I can't wait to get started." It was then that the emotion of the moment really hit her. She had never expected to find someone who would fall in love with her, let alone someone as perfect as Seth. And now here they were, standing in a house that they owned. She looked up into his eyes, wanting him to see just how much she meant what she was about to say.

"You okay?" Seth asked, seeing that her eyes were tearful.

"I'm better than okay," she replied, feeling choked up. "I'm the happiest person in the world right now. I never thought I would find someone who would make me feel this way. And now here we are, in our house. I want to spend the rest of my life with you in this house, Seth. I love you more than I could ever put into words."

Seth turned so that he could hug her properly, then leaned down for a kiss. "I feel exactly the same way about you, angel. I never knew what true love was until I met you. You make me the happiest, luckiest guy there is."

They stood there for a minute or so, just enjoying holding each other. "Shall we go look around again?" Seth asked eventually. "We need to talk over what we're going to do with each room, what we want where, all that kind of thing."

"Okay," Bayley agreed, taking his hand.

* * *

"Right, onto the Women's Championship match," Vince McMahon said. Sitting at the end of the conference table, he turned a page in his notepad to give him a blank page to make notes on. WWE's upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view was the subject of the creative meeting that he was leading. "As I'm sure you all remember, it's already been decided that Charlotte is going over. We don't want the title on Bayley while she's commissioner. What we need to do is work out a finish, and then consider how we're going to lead into the rivalry between Charlotte and Dana Brooke. I did think about changing that after what happened backstage Monday, but I'm going to give her a chance and stick with it. She'd better realise how lucky she is."

Hunter was sitting to Vince's immediate right, as he always did for these meetings. Several of the company's more senior writers made up the rest of the attendees, occupying roughly half of the seats at the long conference table in total. The finish wasn't what had been on Hunter's mind for the past couple of days. He had a much bigger idea to put on the table, in the hope that the old man might bite.

"Vince, I've been doing some thinking about this match. We've made a big deal about the women's revolution, and rightly so. We've put a lot of effort into promoting the incredible talent we now have in both women's divisions, so why don't we take it a step further?"

Vince studied Hunter over the top of his glasses, which were perched on the end of his nose. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I think we should put Bayley and Charlotte in the cell. It is the theme of the pay-per-view after all. If we do it, I think we should make it a big deal. No, it _would_ be a big deal, so I think we should treat it as such. What I'm suggesting is Bayley and Charlotte in the cell, as the main event. We've talked enough about giving our backing to the women, let's prove that we mean it. Bayley and Charlotte are plenty good enough in the ring, and the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match is definitely a big enough occasion."

He could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed his pitch, which he thought had gone well. Vince hadn't immediately dismissed the idea out of hand at least, as was often the case. Instead, the chairman sat there with a thoughtful expression on his face. The long term strategy that few outside of the conference room knew was to take WWE away from PG rated content, in the hope that returning to TV-14 would prevent the downward slide of the ratings. The boundaries of PG were already being stretched more and more often. Two women beating the living hell out of each other in a cage was something that he would never have even considered a couple of years earlier, but now he recognised that the match would have a lot of appeal to the audience. Often accused of being out of touch with his consumers, which was what the fans were, Vince had been trying to make more effort to put on matches that people actually wanted to see. Bayley and Charlotte in the cell sounded very much like the kind of thing people would go wild over.

"I like it," he decided. "I mean, I like the idea of putting them in the cell. We can market the living shit out of the first ever women's Hell in Cell match, and I agree that Charlotte and Bayley are good enough to pull off a good match. Making it the main event is probably a step too far though."

"I disagree," Hunter said, knowing the exact extent of how firm he could get without pissing his father-in-law off. "You just said we can market the hell out of this match, and you're right. Everyone will be talking about it. We will gain a lot of plaudits for how we've shown faith in the women this past year or so. This is the next step forward. The women deserve a pay-per-view main event. People already ask why we haven't done it yet. They see UFC doing it with people like Ronda, and they ask why we can't do the same. Let's prove to them that we can, that we _will_. Give them the main event, and I guarantee that they won't let you down, Vince."

"You guarantee it?" Vince asked, raising an eyebrow a little.

It was hard for Hunter not to smile. He'd added that last sentence in the spur of the moment, knowing how the old man thought. This way, if Bayley and Charlotte's match did flop for some reason, Vince could put the blame on him and say 'I told you so' about making it the main event. Whereas if it did succeed, Vince would take the credit for agreeing to put the match last on the card. It was the kind of thing that you had to get used to quickly when working for Vince. At this point, it was second nature to Hunter. In any event, he had no problem with showing faith in two of 'his' women. Anyone who came through NXT would always be 'his' in his mind. He had backed them then, and he would back them now.

"Yeah, I guarantee it. I couldn't have more faith in Charlotte, or in Bayley. Like I've said many times before, UFC rode the bandwagon hard with Ronda, and to a lesser extent with some of their other best female fighters. We've got the chance to do that now with the women we have. That's the key word, Vince. Now. We have these terrifically talented women ready to be given the spotlight now, not in six months or a year from now. And most importantly, they deserve it. If we were talking about a couple of men on the roster who were this talented, we would barely give a second thought to making this match our main event. That's the thinking we need to work towards getting past."

"I can see how much you believe in this," Vince replied. "Very well, we'll give Charlotte and Bayley the main event. You can tell them Monday night before the show. You pushed for it, so you can have the pleasure of telling them. You can also take control of booking it."

Hunter nodded graciously. "Thank you." Telling Bayley and Charlotte that they were going to main event a pay-per-view, and in Hell in a Cell at that, was something that he was already very much looking forward to. Knowing how seeing their reactions would make him feel, he briefly considered just how lucky he was to have his job. It had been hard to hold back the tears more than once in the past, watching as this current crop of amazing female wrestlers broke down barriers that had previously been considered unbreakable. Bayley and Sasha's thirty minute main event on NXT was the the one that came to mind. Now there was going to be a women's main event on a main roster pay-per-view. Who would have thought it?


	23. Chapter 23

_A/N: Just a quick note to say that I'll be making up my own names for Seth and Bayley's parents, for the simple reason that using real people like that as characters is against the site rules._

* * *

"I'm nervous, Seth," Bayley said quietly.

"I know, babe. We can turn around and go back if you want? I know it's a lot to show up without me even telling them about you first. I just thought it would be a nice surprise for them is all."

They were driving to Seth's parents house, and he had just announced that they were nearly there. Bayley knew that she was going to be nervous about meeting his parents for the first time whether it came as a surprise to them or not - that didn't make much difference to her really. It wasn't as if she didn't want to meet them, she very much did. She had no doubt that they would be lovely people, especially given how highly Seth spoke of them. The fact that he had such a close relationship with his stepdad, to the point where he called him dad and had even taken his surname was sweet too.

"No, I don't want to go back. I'm just saying I'm nervous. You know I'm a shy person, and meeting your parents is a bid deal. I want them to like me, not think I'm weird."

"There's literally no chance they'll think you're weird, okay?" Seth told her with a grin, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look at her. "They'll love you. How could they not? They might wonder how I got so lucky, I'll admit that much."

Blushing at things that Seth said to her was becoming mercifully less common, but Bayley felt her cheeks warming up at that. "If anyone's lucky it's me, baby."

A few minutes later Seth pulled their car up to the curb outside of a pleasant looking house, not too dissimilar in style to the one that they had just bought themselves, although it was obviously in much better condition. It was also slightly smaller in size, and in a more crowded neighborhood, although the area did seem nice at first glance. Further up the street, several kids were playing in the road with a soccer ball, having a grand old time by the look of them. The house looked very well maintained, Bayley saw as she got out of the car, as did the garden and the white picket fence that surrounded it. Seth's parents had a lot of pride in their home. A light blue BMW was parked on the driveway in front of the single garage. It was a nice car, but it wasn't one of the top of the range models. The family had money, but they were not rich. It struck her how much you could tell about people just by standing out front of their house. She walked around the car, and Seth took her hand when she joined him at the bottom of the driveway.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back, angel?" Seth asked, after giving her a kiss of the forehead.

"No. I want to go in," she replied with confidence that she was trying her best to feel. At least she had been able to smile at him as she said it. She could see how excited and proud he was to introduce her to his parents, which totally made sense to her. She would feel the same way when the time came for the situation to be reversed.

Seth took her hand and lead the way up the driveway towards the front door. "I haven't seen my parents for so long. It's the worst part of this job, isn't it?"

"It really is. It's an awesome job, but it does have its down sides."

When they reached the front door Seth gave it a firm knock, then pressed the doorbell. Bayley could feel her stomach knotting up while they waited for someone to come and answer the door. Taking a deep breath helped a little. A moment later the door was opened by a kind-looking, slightly plump woman with dark hair and a similar dark skin tone to Seth's. Bayley remembered him telling her that his grandparents on his mom's side were Armenian.

"Seth!" she exclaimed in delighted surprise as soon as she set eyes on her son.

"Hi, Mom." Seth smiled broadly. "I thought I'd drop by as a surprise."

"A surprise? I'll say!" his mom replied, then looked at Bayley and smiled warmly. "Hi! Bayley, right? We watch the shows all the time. Are you guys..."

"Yeah, we're dating," Seth announced proudly, somehow smiling even wider than before.

"It's nice to meet you," Bayley said nervously.

"Come here, sweetheart," Seth's mom said, stepping out of the house and offering her a hug. "It's great to meet you. I'm Lena."

Seth watched his two favourite women hugging and couldn't possibly have felt happier, so he decided to crack a joke. "Oh, I see how it is already. No hug for me now is there, mom?"

"Of course there's a hug for you, baby," Lena pulled away from Bayley and hugged him so tightly that a bear would have been proud of it.

When he cringed at being called baby by his mom, Seth saw Bayley trying to stifle a laugh at his discomfort. That was a good sign at least. "I'm sorry I've not called you much or been home for ages. I've just been so busy with Bayley and..."

"Oh, it's my fault now is it?" Bayley demanded, pretending to be annoyed with him.

"I can see where this is going. Don't you two start ganging up on me," Seth warned them both, laughing.

"You and I are going to get along just fine, Bayley," Lena chuckled, then gestured for them to go inside.

Knowing that Bayley would be nervous to lead the way into a house that she'd never been to before, Seth took the lead himself. Just as he walked through the front door, his dad came walking down the stairs, having just showered and changed after getting home from work.

"Look who it is!" his father exclaimed happily. "Long time no see, champ. How are you?"

"Hey, Dad! I'm good. How are you?"

"Really good."

Bayley had walked in while that exchange was happening, followed by Lena, who passed on the exciting news. "Nick! Seth brought his girlfriend home!"

"Dad, this is Bayley," Seth announced again, just as proudly as before.

"Hello, Bayley," Nick smiled before giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you," she replied, feeling more at ease than she had expected to. These really were nice, friendly people, it was obvious from the first moment you met them. Seth's dad was a tall, well built man with salt and pepper hair and similar length beard to Seth's own. There were hints of some other accent in his voice, but she couldn't pick out quite what it was from the little she'd heard so far.

After Seth exchanged a hug with his father, Lena lead them through to the living room, telling Bayley that she could make herself at home. Seth took a seat on one of the two couches, and Bayley sat down beside him, trying to feel as relaxed as she could. They chatted away for a few minutes, then Lena inquired about everyone's preference for drinks. With the requests memorised, she asked Nick to help her in the kitchen.

"I love your parents," Bayley said quietly when they had the room to themselves.

"They're awesome. And they love you too, just like I knew they would." Seth put an arm around her shoulders, then kissed her softly on the lips. All he ever seemed to think about lately was how happy he was and how lucky he was to have found Bayley. Now they were sitting together in his parent's living room. One of the most awkward parts of a a new relationship was now out of the way, at least where Bayley was concerned. She had met his parents and had taken a liking to them. It wasn't as though he had ever doubted it, but it was still something to be glad about. The same thing stay lay in his future with her parents, but that wasn't something to worry about right now.

"I hear some kind of accent in your dad's voice. Where is he from?"

"The accent you hear is a bit of English. He lived over there through the eighties and early nineties. He picked up a bit of the accent and hasn't lost it."

"Oh, that's awesome! I've only been over there a couple of times, but I really liked it. It would be great to talk to him about it."

"He'd like that. He loved so much about his time over there. I kind of picked up my awful taste in music from him to be honest." It was the first time that Seth had risked bringing up that subject. Frankly, it was amazing that he'd gotten away with it this long.

"Awful taste?" Bayley asked, grinning in anticipation and raising her eyebrows.

"Almost anything I listen to, you'll think is crap. I hardly listen to anything current at all. My thing is more sixties through eighties, with some nineties thrown in. I like a lot of British bands too, thanks to dad. We're talking about The Beatles, U2, Oasis. Those are the ones you've probably heard of at least. It used to drive Roman crazy if I put music on in the car, so I got out of the habit of doing it."

"Well you're in luck with me then, because I listen to literally _anything_. I have music by all of those three bands you mentioned on my phone."

Seth pretended to look up to the heavens. "Thank you for dropping the perfect woman in my lap."

"I'm not in your lap," Bayley pointed out with a giggle.

"Maybe later?"

* * *

"I told you he was dating someone," Nick chuckled when he followed his wife into the kitchen. "I knew it, and I even suspected it was Bayley too. Their chemistry on-screen was too good for them to have been just acting. Then when he stopped calling as much and didn't come home, that confirmed it for me."

"I'm so pleased for him," Lena replied as she got the coffee machine going. "She seems like such a nice girl, doesn't she? It's about time he found someone who'll treat him right instead of like a piece of garbage. I was starting to wonder what kind of people they employed over there to be honest. But seeing the way they look at each other, you can easily tell that they love each other."

"You mean how you look at me all the time?" Nick quipped.

Lena picked up a nearby towel and flicked it at him, missing as he dodged out of the way. "You wish, mister. Now make yourself useful and fix those coffees. I need to worry about what we're going to do for dinner. I wish Seth would have called ahead because I don't think I have anything in that I can really make to feed all four of us. If I'd have known, I would have gone to the store today instead of leaving it until tomorrow."

"So we'll order in," Nick said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Seth brings his girlfriend home and I'm supposed to tell her we're going to have to order takeaway?"

"I'm going to guess she's eaten takeaway before, honey. Just saying. Anyway, what can we do if there's no food in? I'll tell them if you want?"

"Alright, you go tell them. I'll bring the drinks through in a minute."

"Typical. I always get the hard stuff to do in this house," Nick complained playfully.

"You're the man around here. Act like it."

Laughing, Nick walked back to the living room, finding Seth and Bayley chatting away without a care in the world. Despite her obvious nervousness when they'd arrived, Bayley had relaxed quickly. That was worth a smile. "Guys, the drinks are coming up, but I'm afraid we're actually running low on food today. We're going to have to order in takeaway. I hope that's okay, Bayley?"

"That's fine with me, Mr Rollins," Bayley replied sweetly. "The only thing is, I'm a really fussy eater. Could we maybe go for pizza, please?"

Nick laughed again. "I haven't been called Mr Rollins since the last time I got into trouble in school. My name's Nick. And anyway, you can't be as fussy with your food as Seth is. Honestly, the trouble we had trying to get him to try new things, you wouldn't believe."

"Do we have to start with the embarrassing stories?" Seth groaned.

"I'm all ears," Bayley said, laughing almost uncontrollably at his discomfort.

"Or maybe we could get the photo albums out?" Nick suggested.

"I'll set fire to them if you do," Seth promised him.

* * *

An hour later, Seth leaned back on the couch with a satisfied sigh after finishing the last slice of his pizza. Always a slow eater, he was the last to finish. Conversation over the last hour had been spent with his parents starting to get to know Bayley and vice versa. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable experience for Seth, seeing his girlfriend so relaxed around his parents, especially with her natural nervousness and shyness taken into account. He could tell that his parents liked Bayley too, not that he had doubted that for a single second. What was there not to like? Some people got really lucky in love, and he was definitely one of those. He often called her angel, and it wasn't because he thought she liked it. It was actually a perfectly fitting description, in his mind.

For her part, Bayley was overjoyed with how well the evening had gone. The nerves that she'd had on the way over to the house were gone. Seth's parents had welcomed her into their home almost as one of their own right from minute one, and had done everything they could to make her feel comfortable. They were two very kind people, that much was obvious. It probably helped that they could see just how happy she and Seth were to be together.

"So what was the real reason you wanted that phone number?" Nick asked Seth, meaning the one for the building contractor that they were meeting the following day at their new house. "You said it was for a friend who was having some work done, yet here you are now, back here yourself."

"You never miss much, Dad," Seth observed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth on the phone. It wasn't that I wanted to lie to you, I just wanted it to be a surprise when I brought Bayley home tonight is all. The truth is, you know how I've been talking about buying myself a place as a renovation project for a while? I bought one at an auction today. We bought one, I mean. Bayley and I bought it. We're going to renovate it together, and when it's done we're going to move in, obviously."

"You're moving back here?" Lena asked, delighted by the prospect of having her son closer to home.

"Not exactly back here, but back to Iowa, yes. The house is just outside Waukee. It's got four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a decent sized living room, dining room and kitchen, and it's got a huge rear garden. There's a hell of a lot of work to do on it, but that was the whole idea of buying it. It's in a really nice neighborhood where property is quite expensive, yet we managed to get it for only one hundred twelve thousand. It's an absolute steal, to be honest. The first problem we need to get fixed is the roof. That's why I wanted the number, Dad. The roof needs replacing and it's been leaking into the rooms below, so there's also a damp problem to be taken care of. Bayley and I can't do that ourselves. There's also some remodeling we want done in the kitchen. We're going to have French doors put in so that there's a great view of the garden, and we want a deck built out there so we can eat out there in nice weather. It's going to be great when it's all done."

"Oh, Seth, it sounds fantastic," Lena breathed. She was always proud of her baby boy, which was how she always thought of him, no matter how old he was, but right now she was especially proud, with so much good news coming at once. Seth had found himself a beautiful, kind, intelligent woman who clearly loved him, and they had made intelligent, well thought out plans to settle down with each other. Fantastic was the word she had used, and it was exactly the right one. Sure, Seth's relationship with Bayley had moved fast, they hadn't tried to make a secret of that, but Lena knew that was how love could be sometimes. Seth's happiness was all that mattered to her, and it had been a long time since she had seem him this happy, if ever.

"I know my way around a set of tools," Nick said. "If you ever need a hand with anything, all you've got to do is get on the phone. Obviously I'll have work, but I'll help out whenever I can."

"Thank you. It's really nice of you to offer. Honestly though, Bayley and I want to do as much of the work as we can ourselves. We want the house to be our thing, you know?"

"I understand exactly what you mean. I'd feel the same way if I was you. But still, if you ever need anything, all you have to do is call. I know people in all of the trades you might need, too. Building contractors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, anything you can think of, I can put you in touch with someone."

"Thank you, that's really kind of you," Bayley said. "Seth, we need to have them over to look at the place as soon as we can."

"We will," he promised. "How about this: We'll get the roof and the damp fixed, take care of the worst of the mess in the house and in the garden, then we'll have you come out to look around. I'll pay for a hotel room for you in the place we're staying at, we can all go out for a meal that night, it should be a good time."

"That sounds like a plan, but we'll pay for our own room. I can't ask you to do that for us," Lena said.

"You didn't ask, I said I was going to do it. And I'm not taking no for an answer either."

Bayley squeezed Seth's hand and looked into his eyes, hoping he could tell just how proud of him she was.


	24. Chapter 24

"Dad really came through for us there," Seth said. He and Bayley were standing at the bottom of their driveway, watching their newly-hired building contractor drive away up the street in his van. Over the past hour or so, they had walked him around the house and detailed all of the work that they wanted doing. When the contractor had totaled it all up and given Seth a price, he couldn't have been happier with it. If it hadn't been from someone his father knew, he would have been suspicious that the amount was actually too low for the work to be completed to a high standard, but the guy had already said that he would do the work cheaper than he would for a regular customer because of the fact that Seth was Nick's son.

"I honestly didn't know how much to expect it to come to, but if you say it's cheap, I trust you. You're the one who knows about this stuff, baby. I'm just so excited that we're making a start."

Seth turned and lead the way back up the driveway to the front door. "I know, it's exciting isn't it? I'll be glad when the roof is done and the damp is taken care of, then we can get work started on the electrics and the plumbing, and we can get the heating up and running. Then we can at least sleep here when we come to work on it, rather than staying in the hotel."

"You do know most girls would outright refuse to live on a building site, right?" Bayley asked with a grin.

"I'm not dating most girls," Seth pointed out. He lead the way into the house, holding the front door open for her, then headed for the kitchen, where he had left the keys to their hire car on one of the work surfaces. "I was thinking that we could go buy some supplies and tools, then bring them back here. I looked on my phone this morning and there's a huge DIY superstore kind of place not all that far away. We can go there and load up on everything we're likely to need in the near future, or at least as much as we can fit in the car. I already have a huge dumpster being delivered tomorrow, so we can start work on clearing up the garden and throwing away the crap that's been left in here, like in the utility room for example. We can throw all of that out."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. We've got the electrician and the plumber coming out tomorrow to quote us for the work, right?"

"That's right, tomorrow afternoon. At least we've got all morning to work on filling the dumpster." Car keys now in hand, Seth was ready to leave. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah." Bayley lead the way back towards the front door. "One thing we do need to buy, Seth? A coffee machine and some decent coffee. I can't live in a house without a coffee machine."

"No problem, angel. We'll stop off somewhere and buy one now. There are probably some other things we need too, like cups, plates, cutlery, that kind off thing. We can't use the kitchen to cook yet, but we can order in takeaway food."

"You're right. And we need cleaning supplies too. My god, we need so many cleaning supplies." One thing Bayley hated was a lack of cleanliness. It was something that she was going to have to get used to for some time while working on the house, but she would still do her best to keep the house as clean as possible, especially the kitchen. Even though the entire thing was going be ripped out and replaced in due course, it still had to be used until then.

"I'll leave the cleaning to you," Seth said cheekily as he followed her out of the house and closed the front door behind him.

"The hell you will," Bayley snapped, pretending that she thought he was serious. "You'll end up doing it all yourself if you carry on like that."

"Sorry boss," Seth grinned.

* * *

An hour later, after a trip around a Walmart which had taken care of the items for the kitchen, including a coffee machine and bag after bag of cleaning supplies, they walked into the huge DIY superstore that Seth had located on his phone. He knew that he was going to have to lay down a serious amount of money to buy everything they would need during the renovations, and there was no way he could remember, or even transport everything that they required in one visit. Tools were a must though. Leaving tools lying around when there were tradesmen in the house wasn't going to be ideal, there was a chance that someone might see something that they liked and decide to help themselves, but that could be easily overcome by locking the tools in one of the bedrooms or the in utility room once it had been cleared out. As far as money was concerned, yes, it was going to cost a lot in equipment and supplies, but that was all part of the process when taking on this kind of project, and Seth had already allowed for it in his budget.

"Wow, you could get lost in here." Bayley paused for a moment just inside the entrance, looking around the superstore, which was essentially an enormous warehouse full of shelving. At least there wasn't a huge number of people shopping. Mid afternoon on a weekday obviously wasn't peak time for this place.

"At least we've got no need to rush. Let's take our time looking around and do our best to make sure we don't miss anything we might need."

With Seth in charge on pushing the cart, they started at one end of the store, intending to work their way down to the other. Electrics was the first mini department, which wasn't of interest to them as yet. Things like fancy light fittings and switches were a long way in the future at the moment. Next came plumbing supplies, where again nothing was of use much to them. Then came the power tools section, where Seth took time inspecting many of the products, eventually selecting a drill, a nail gun, a power screwdriver, a sander, a saw, a wallpaper stripper, a glue gun and lastly a set of spanners and wrenches.

"That's going to cost a fortune," Bayley said with concern, looking at the boxes stacked up in the cart.

"It's all stuff we're going to need, babe. We've only got to buy it all once, and we'll get plenty of use out of all of it by the time we're done with the house. Remember I budgeted for all of this, too. It might seem expensive, but what you've always got to keep in mind is how little we paid for the house, compared to what it's going to be worth. We're laying out money right now, but by the end we'll be massively in profit, theoretically at least, because we're obviously not going to sell the house when we're done with the renovations."

"Okay, that makes sense. You do know you've got to teach me how to use all of this stuff, right?"

"You'll be a natural before you know it," Seth promised her with a smile.

With that, they moved on to the next section. It wasn't time yet for wallpaper, paint or varnishing, so they bypassed those items and moved on again. General purpose items were next, and there was definitely some shopping to be done there. "Ah, we're going to need things here," Bayley said when they started down the aisle.

"It might not be a bad idea to get some of these overalls." Seth stopped in front of them and began checking out the sizes. "It would save ruining our clothes, even if we wear old ones. What do you think?"

"Let's do it."

They spent a couple of minutes making sure they were happy with the sizes they'd chosen, and the overalls went into the cart. Walking ahead of Seth, Bayley stopped a little further down the aisle. "There's a box of dust masks. We definitely need these."

"Yep. Put them in. And get some of that silicone sealant stuff right there too, please."

Bayley put the items in the cart and lead the way again. The next thing she came to was various rolls of duct tape, which made her pause for a second. One of the fantasies she kept having was Seth taping up her wrists and mouth before pleasuring her in various ways. Why exactly tape appealed to her, she wasn't sure. Much like her fetish for covering Seth's mouth, she didn't have an explanation for it. Even though she had never had anyone use tape on her before, the thought of it was just something that turned her on, and that was that. Seth had enjoyed their previous experience with bondage back at her apartment, so she imagined that he would be keen to have some fun with the tape. "We should get duct tape," she told him, making sure not to let on what she was thinking.

"Yeah, we can definitely use some of that," Seth agreed. Little did she know, he was thinking along similar lines to her. When they had first talked about her fetish for light bondage, she had told him that she wanted him to tie her up, and that she didn't want him to be overly cautious with her. She had even wanted to add role play to their games. Given that the main thing she liked to do was cover his mouth, he assumed that she would like the same thing done to her. Judging by what he had seen on TV, duct tape seemed like the perfect thing to do that with. Certainly it would be better than trying to keep a hand over her mouth while trying to satisfy her in other ways. He picked up a large roll of industrial strength silver tape and tossed it into the cart. The packaging said something about the tape having extra strong backing and super sticky adhesive. Ideal for both the renovations and the bedroom, he decided, suppressing a grin. Bayley had a surprise in store when they got back to their hotel room later, he decided.

Next came the gardening section, where more tools were purchased. In time, a lawnmower would also be needed, but Seth knew that they already had enough items to fill up the car. Anything else would have to wait until next time. "I think that's going to do it," he announced. "We're going to struggle to get all of this in the car as it is."

"We've certainly got enough to get started with. I'm looking forward to it." Bayley had excitement bubbling up inside of her again, making it hard to stand still.

Seth had to smile, finding her enthusiasm as infectious as ever. "Tell me you've enjoyed it this time next week after you've been busting your ass for seven days straight."

"I will enjoy it. Hard work doesn't scare me, and anyway, we're working on our house. If that's not worth the effort, then I don't know what is."

"That's my girl." As Seth pushed the cart past where she was standing, he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

* * *

After they returned to their hotel room that evening, Seth had been made to wait a while for the right moment to put his plan into action. When Bayley decided to go over to the coffee machine in the corner of the room to make them a drink, he decided that the time was right. Moving as quietly as he could, he climbed off the bed and walked over to where his jacket was hanging on the back of a chair. They had dropped all of their purchases off at the house before coming back to the hotel, but Seth had secretly stashed the roll of duct tape in his coat pocket when Bayley wasn't in the room. Now he took it out of the pocket and held in behind his back as he walked over towards her, in case she turned around and saw what he was carrying. His luck held out, and she was still fiddling with the coffee machine when he reached her. She sensed his presence, but before she could say anything, he covered her mouth with his free hand, pressing the back of her head against his chest to keep her still.

Taken totally by surprise, Bayley was delighted that he had listened to her when she'd said that she wanted him to do this to her at some point. She tried to protest into his warm, powerful hand, to test out the tightness of his grip as much as anything. The sound was well muffled. She felt her chest tightening as she began to get turned on already.

"Ssshhh," Seth urged her, seeing in her widened eyes that she was already enjoying it, almost before he got started. "You said you wanted me to do this, so now it's my turn to be in charge. I brought something along to help me out." He raised the roll of tape so that she could see it.

Bayley moaned into his hand again, involuntarily this time. It was as if he had read her mind earlier in the day. Her fantasy was really going to come true.

Seth had a problem though. He'd wanted to surprise her, and it had gone perfectly, but he couldn't rush into this. The idea was for them to both enjoy it, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt or scare her. True, she had told him not to be overly cautious with her, but it was better to err on that side than have something go wrong. He guided her over to the bed before removing his hand from her mouth.

"Why did you stop?" she asked disappointingly, following his lead and sitting down on the bed.

"Because we need to be careful, babe. I know you said not to be too cautious with you, I think you said I wouldn't break you, but if I did do something that did hurt you or make you uncomfortable I would feel so guilty. We both need to be totally confident so that we can enjoy it, okay?"

"Okay." Bayley looked into his eyes, trying her best to show him that she placed all of her faith in him. "I trust you, baby. I know you would never hurt me, and I know you'll take care of me. I'm not delicate though. You can be a bit rough with me. I would enjoy it if you did."

"I'm not saying I won't be rough with you. I know it's what you want, and I find it a turn on too. At least, I did last time when it was the other way around. All I'm saying is let's build up to it a bit with the tape. Have you ever had tape on your mouth before? I've never done anything like this at all. That time at your place was my first, which is another I want to be careful."

"No, I've never done it before either. Honestly, I've had fantasies about you tying me up with tape though."

How easily she'd made that revelation surprised her both of them. For Seth, it showed him that she really did trust him as much as she'd said. She knew that he wouldn't judge or mock her for her fantasies. Not wanting to ruin the moment by talking too much, he decided to take her at her word. She wanted him to tape her up, so he would do it. He picked up the roll, stretched out roughly the first three inches of tape, then tore it off using his teeth. The strip was plenty long enough to cover her mouth. "Alright, let's try this on your mouth first. I want to make sure you can breathe okay like that before I tie your wrists."

"Okay." Bayley lifted her chin slightly, giving him a better angle to apply the tape. Seth pressed it down over her lips, then smoothed it out with his fingers to make it stick as tight as it could.

"How's that? Can you breathe okay?"

"Mmm hmm," she acknowledged with a nod. The tape felt looser on her mouth than she had expected it to. She doubted it would seal her mouth for long, especially if she tried to talk into it, which was part of her fantasy. There was no point being tied and gagged if you didn't try to resist or protest. That was why role play would be so much fun, when they reached that level of confidence with each other. Seth had been honest that he wanted to be careful with her, and she could hardly fault him for that. He needed to be as comfortable with the bondage as she was, regardless of who was on the receiving end.

Seth was surprised by the fact that he liked the way she looked with the tape on her mouth. Exactly what he found attractive about it, he couldn't put his finger on, not that it mattered. It was a turn on, that was the important thing. Her muted attempt to talk did something for him too, he realised. "Say something else. Tell me you love me."

"Nmm!" Bayley refused, scowling at him in the first small bit of role play. As frustrating as it was, she could already feel the tape coming loose, so she slowly pulled it off her lips and screwed it up into a little ball in the palm of her hand. "It didn't really feel tight like I expected," she explained. "I could have worked it off with my lips in a couple of minutes at most. I guess it doesn't really work like it does on TV."

Seth decided to let himself go a bit, and be a bit more assertive with her. Bayley seemed comfortable, and she had been able to breathe okay with her mouth covered. Applying a better gag would be safe, and he could always remove it quickly anyway, if needed. "I think I can fix that for you," he announced with a grin. This time when he stretched out the first few inches of tape, he stuck it down onto her cheek while it was still attached to the roll. Then, lifting her hair out of the way with one hand, he pulled the tape tightly across her mouth and wrapped it fully around her head. After using his teeth to separate the roll, he smoothed the loose end of the tape down over the first piece that he'd stuck to her cheek. "There. How's that?"

The difference in how tight the tape was now surprised Bayley. Whereas before it had been loose, now it was so tight around her cheeks that she could feel her eyes being forced open slightly wider than usual. The adhesive had properly sealed her lips this time too, being pressed down much firmer onto them. When she tried to tell Seth that she was okay, an indecipherable grunt was all she could manage. Briefly attempting to move her lips, she realised that there was no possibility of movement at all. Her heart started racing in excitement and she felt her chest tightening even more, such was the amount that she was getting turned on. And this was before Seth even did anything to her. Even her fantasies hadn't compared to the reality of the experience.

"Good, nice and quiet." Seth was getting into the swing of it now. Remembering back to that night in Bayley's apartment, he recalled that she had done a little bit of role playing, telling him that if he didn't stay quiet, she would have to hurt him. Now that he was the one in control, he could see why she'd wanted to do that. It added an extra edge to the level of excitement. Bayley tried to say something again, and he could tell that he had figured out a very effective gagging method. The tape was so tight over her mouth that he could clearly see the outline of her lips underneath it. There was no way it was going to come off without someone actively removing it, and that wasn't going to be happening any time soon. There was only one more thing he needed to say before he taped her wrists. One thing he did know about bondage games was that it was wise to have a safe word in case the person who was bound needed to be released. Obviously a word would work for Bayley with her mouth taped, but the concept could still be used.

Bayley tried to say something again, so placed a finger on the tape, over her lips. "Sshhh. Before we go any further, angel, I just have one more thing to say. If you need me to take that off your mouth or untie you, start wriggling around and making loads of noise, okay? I know we're supposed to have something to use as a safe word. That will have to do."

"Mmmkkmm." She nodded her agreement.

Now Seth felt ready to get into character. "Shut up. I put that there to keep you quiet. If you're going to keeping making noise, I'm going to have to do something that's going to hurt you. Now turn around and get your wrists behind your back."

Loving that he was role playing, Bayley let herself slip into the part of a kidnapping victim of some kind, although she simultaneously wondered just how turned on she might get by being tied up by him. Was it possible that it could take her all the way? Obeying his instruction, she lifted her legs onto the beg and then turned around so that her back was to Seth. When she put her wrists behind her back, she felt Seth take them in one of his hands, holding them together while he ripped more tape from the roll.

Being careful not to bind her so tight that her circulation was restricted, Seth wrapped the tape around her wrists several times. Much like the gag, there was no way it was coming off until he decided it would, unless she had to use their so-called safe word of course. As she tested the tightness of her bonds for the first time, Bayley groaned in frustration. Or was it frustration? It had actually sounded more like a weak cry for help. Seth realised then that she was role playing along with him. So much the better, he thought, starting to feel aroused. Next, he crawled himself up to the top end of the bed and arranged the pillows so that they would support his back. Leaning forward, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her roughly towards him, again being careful to stop just short of actually hurting her.

When she was nestled tightly against him, her helpless hands resting on his stomach, he decided to have a bit of fun before doing anything physical. If role play was what she wanted, role play what she could have. Keeping one arm around her stomach, holding her in place, he began to gently stroke her hair away from the side of her face. She let he head rest back against his shoulder, and that was even better for him because he could now look into her eyes and watch her nostrils flaring with her slightly labored breathing. He knew first hand that if toy tried to protest too much with your mouth covered, you quickly got short of breath. "Good girl, Bayley. Now, you're not going anywhere for a long time. I can keep you tied up like this for as long as I want. No one's coming to look for you, you know that, right?"

More muffled sounds came from Bayley as she gave him a pleading look that was perfect for the situation. She really was a good actress. "I said be quiet," he ordered her, more forcefully this time. To emphasise it even more, he ran his fingers over her lips, pressing the tape down to make sure it hadn't loosened at all.

They proceeded like that for several minutes, with Seth taunting Bayley as she did her best to beg him for mercy. Every single second of it was driving her wild, and she could wait for him to take things to the next level. She could tell that he knew that too, and was purposefully making her wait, yet another aspect of the game. To speed things along a little, she leaned her head back as much as she could and began to strain against the gag, trying to loosen it if she could. It proved to be a fruitless effort, but it did get a reaction from Seth.

"Oh no," he chastised her. "You can stop that right now. I've had enough of your struggling and your stupid noises. I told you I'd have to hurt you." With that, he shifted her position against him so that he could get at her neck more easily with his mouth.

As soon as he started nibbling on her neck, Bayley's moans of pleasure became involuntary. In turn, they drove Seth closer to the edge himself. There was something incredibly attractive about the noises she made into the tape. With minutes, he could feel her literally quivering with every touch of his lips or tongue. He knew what he had to do next, so he moved out from behind her, eased her down so that she was lying flat on the bed, somewhat uncomfortably on top of her bound wrists. Then he moved down to the other end of the bed.

* * *

Bayley's eyes had rolled back in ecstasy and her chest heaved as she struggled to get enough air while she came down from the highest of highs. Sweat poured down her face now, but even that hadn't done anything to loosen the tape.

Sighing with a combination of satisfaction and exhaustion, Seth move back up the bed and lay on his side beside her, taking even more satisfaction in the look in her eyes. It told him that he had made her fantasy a reality, and she had loved every moment of it. Her shortness of breath concerned him though, so he reached over, found the end of the tape and peeled it off as gently as he could. Some of the hairs on the back of her neck were pulled out, causing her to protest for the final time before he slowly uncovered her lips.

"Oh, baby," she gasped out. "That was incredible."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved it. I love _you_ ," he added.

"I love you too, Seth. I'm glad you don't think I'm weird for being into that kind of thing." She sat up so that he could work on freeing her wrists.

"No way. Like I said, I enjoyed it too."

"So we'll do it again in the future?"

Seth gave her another kiss on the side of the neck, in the area which was already bruising. "You bet we will. And next time I might really surprise you with it, now that we've talked about what to do to keep safe."

Bayley turned her head and locked eyes with him before giving him the best evil grin she could manage. "Not if I surprise you first."

* * *

 _A/N: A number of people asked for more bondage scenes, so I decided to do another. As with last time, the hard part was trying to keep it to a T rating, which is why some of the wording might seem a little awkward in places and obviously why I had to line break out part of the scene. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you did, let me know, and maybe I'll do another scene again in a future chapter._


	25. Chapter 25

A rotten plank of wood flew into the dumpster, landing with a dull thud on top of a substantial pile of assorted household junk.

"That's job number one done," Seth muttered to himself. Blowing out a deep breath of exhaustion, he took a moment to wipe the worst of the dust and grime from the front of his overalls. They were hardly a fashion statement, but they had definitely been a worthwhile purchase. Emptying the utility room of all of the crap that had been left piled up in there had been a bigger mission than he'd realised before starting the job. He'd done almost all of it himself too, aside from an old desk and a table which Bayley had helped him to carry out to the small front garden, where Seth had broken them up with the aid of a large hammer.

A minute or so resting out in the fresh air revitalised him, so he headed back into the house, removing his heavy duty work gloves as he did so. The manual labour wasn't just tiring, it had made him hungry too. It was lunch time anyway, so he knew what was next on his agenda.

When he reached the kitchen, Seth stopped in the doorway and surveyed the scene. He wasn't the only one who had made a lot of progress, he saw. Bayley had her overalls on too, and a pair of yellow rubber gloves, and her hair was tied back in a simple ponytail. Even so, he liked the view a lot. She was beautiful under any circumstance. Currently, she was crouched down, back to him, scrubbing away at the interior of one of the cupboards. A bucket of water sat on the floor beside her. He could see that she had already cleaned all of the work surfaces, the sink, the top of the cooker and all of the upper cupboards. The smell of cleaning products and bleach was almost overpowering.

"Hey," he said, realising that she hadn't heard his arrival over the top of her vigorous scrubbing.

"Oh, hey." Bayley turned to give him a smile, then blew out a sigh, just as he had a minute or so earlier. Getting to her feet, she stretched to loosen the muscles in her back.

"Looks like you've made a lot of progress in here. The utility room is empty now, apart from a couple of huge spiders I noticed."

Bayley shuddered. "I hate spiders. Man, this place was in such a state. You don't realise until you really get into it, do you? Still, it's not coming up too bad, is it?"

"No, it looks good. You've done a great job, babe. Another couple of hours at it this afternoon, and I think we'll be okay to actually use it as a kitchen, at least until we get it replaced."

"Yeah." Looking around, Bayley wondered who on Earth had paid for kitchen units like these. She absolutely detested the style, but then she supposed that tastes had changed a lot since this kitchen had been fitted. Cleaning it was necessary for now, but she couldn't wait to have something a lot better to work with.

"Get changed out of those overalls. I'm taking you out for lunch. We've got well over an hour before the electrician shows up, and I'm starving."

"Yay!" Bayley loved being surprised with something nice like that. It had been impossible to hold in her excitement. She walked over to him, pulling her gloves off and throwing them onto one of the work surfaces as she did so. It struck her again just how lucky she was to have Seth in her life. "Where are we going?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out. Now let's go get changed."

* * *

"I thought you might be taking us here," Bayley said, smiling broadly.

Seth had just parked their car a short distance up the street from Bean and Gone, the coffee shop that they had enjoyed visiting the first time they had traveled to Waukee. The small family run shop sold top quality coffee at reasonable prices, and had a warm, friendly atmosphere too. It was exactly the kind of place that they both liked, and thanks to the significance of the day on which they had first visited it, it now had special sentimental value to them as well. Bean and Gone was the place where Bayley had told Seth that she definitely wanted to move to Iowa with him. It wasn't something that either of them would forget. Seth could even remember which table they had been sitting at. On their first visit, he had also noticed that a selection of sandwiches was available, handmade to order.

"We did say we'd come back," he replied, looking over at her, wondering if she was feeling as nostalgic as he was. Definitely, he saw.

"It seems like so long ago that we were here, doesn't it?"

"Time flies when you're enjoying yourself. Come on, let's go in. There's a chicken salad sandwich in there with my name on it."

When they walked into Bean and Gone, Seth saw that the table they had used on their first visit was empty. "Let's sit here. This is where we sat the first time we came."

"I didn't think you would remember that." Bayley looked up at him, smiling.

Seth gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Of course I remembered. How could I forget that day? Have a seat, I'll go and order for us."

"You don't know what I want yet."

"Trust me. I'll get something you like, I promise."

Bayley liked the idea of trusting him to order for her. If nothing else, it would show how much attention he paid to what she liked to eat, not that she doubted him. While he went to order, she sat down at the table and took out her phone. With a minute or two to kill, she decided to check out her social media. As soon as she loaded up the Twitter app, she noticed that she had a larger number of notifications than normal. It didn't take long to realise why. A few hours earlier, WWE had released the interview that she had recorded with Michael Cole backstage after Raw onto their website. As Hunter had requested, she had used the interview to strongly speak out about Smackdown, Daniel Bryan, Shane McMahon, their policies, and their roster as a whole. It was the first real attempt to get fans to choose a side in the upcoming battle of the brands, and judging by the reactions that she was reading, it had worked.

One tweet read: _'You tell them boss. Now Raw has a real leader.'_

Only a few messages further down the page was one from someone who wanted her to do something unpleasant to herself and then die. Both of those tweets were accumulating likes and retweets.

Scrolling further down, another tweet caught her eye. _'I'd like to see the bitch show up on Smackdown and start talking like that to people's faces.'_

Overall, there were a lot more hate-filled comments than positive ones. It was hardly surprising, given that not much had been done yet to paint her in a positive light for Raw's fans. That would need to be addressed by creative soon, if Vince's vision of a divisive character rather than a hated one was going to work out. She trusted Hunter to make sure that it happened as intended. Even so, reading some of the hate was difficult. Not too long ago, nearly every tweet she had been tagged in was full of positivity and happiness; most of them coming from people who genuinely loved her character and treated her as a role model for their kids. All of that was gone now, and she still felt bitter about it.

"You okay, angel?" Seth asked when he arrived back at the table. He sat down opposite her. "Where did that frown come from?"

"I just looked on Twitter. They put up my interview with Cole, and they sure got the reaction they wanted. Take a look."

She handed her phone over to Seth, who took a minute or so to read some of the tweets. Seeing some of the things that were being said to his girlfriend infuriated him at a base level, even though they were really addressed to her on-screen character. The problem with wrestling fans was that there were a lot of them who couldn't tell the difference between kayfabe and reality, or simply didn't believe that there was such a thing as kayfabe. There would be people out there who genuinely despised Bayley for the things she had said on-screen recently, which wasn't an easy thing to come to terms with. It was only going to get worse in the coming weeks too, particularly with fans of Smackdown.

Plans for Bayley to appear on Smackdown at least once had already been announced. Seth began to feel a little nervous about that idea, wondering exactly what kind of reaction she might get. It had been a long time since someone had been able to generate real heat like they were trying to get for Bayley. Roman had taken some serious abuse from fans over the past couple of years, on the odd occasion it had even gotten physical, but that hadn't been WWE's intention. Now they were making Bayley public enemy number one for Smackdown fans, and then putting her in front of them to face the music. If it was anyone else he wouldn't have worried, but it felt different when it was his girlfriend that people were telling to die.

"I'm not sure I like the idea of them sending you to appear on Smackdown with some of the things in these messages," he told her, passing the phone back across the able. "You're getting some serious heat already."

Bayley considered that for a moment. Being hated had definitely never been what she'd wanted for her career in WWE, but now that she had the character of Commissioner Martinez, part of her appreciated the need for the hate. It was what made the character work. Surprisingly, the idea of standing in a Smackdown ring, having abuse and boos hurled at her while she talked up Raw - her show, did actually appeal to her. Following Stephanie McMahon's advice, she had tried to start living her new character, and the sense of pride in Raw when compared to Smackdown was the first thing to start to come naturally to her. If her new character was really going to be a long lasting one, and one that was talked about for years to come, then she had to welcome the abuse from Smackdown fans as a good thing - as a sign that she was doing her job well. Shying away from a negative reaction was not what she should be doing at all.

"Getting hated on by people is hard, but I need to try and get used to it," she told him with a shrug. "I've been given this character now, so I need to make it work. I can't let it be a flop. If I have to go out there on Smackdown and get booed out of the building, that's what I'll do. It's one thing for people to write tweets telling you to die, it doesn't mean they'll do anything if you're standing in front of them. You must know that, you played a heel for a long time. You've done it, Roman's been hated on for a long time, deservedly or not, and Cena certainly has been for even longer. There's no reason I can't deal with it too. In fact, I want to prove to Hunter and Vince that I _can_ deal with it. I have the feeling that after that first night when I cried in the limo with Hunter and Stephanie, she went straight to Vince and told him that it was a mistake to turn me heel. If I'm right, I want to prove her wrong too. It wasn't a mistake to give me one of the company's most important characters to play. can do this, Seth. I can."

Finding her passion admirable, Seth had to concede that she was right, and that he was probably being overprotective. Tweeting abuse to someone was a lot different to causing them physical harm. In general, WWE's security was very good too. Sure, the occasional idiot managed to run into the ring, but Hunter had already taken steps to deal with that by stationing more security staff around the ringside areas. Rather than worrying and questioning things, he decided that she should be being supportive of her.

"You're right. I know you can do it, too. I don't doubt you for a second. It's just natural for me to worry about you, you know?"

Bayley reached across the table and took his hand. "I know, baby, and I think it's really sweet that you worry. But you don't need to. I've moved past the point where I wanted to cry all the time at the thought of being booed. I'm ready for it now. Besides, there will be Raw fans who support me too."

A waitress approached the table, carrying a tray with two cups of coffee on it, along with two sandwiches. "Hi guys. I've got a chicken salad sandwich."

"That's mine, thank you," Seth said.

"And I've got a tuna salad sandwich." She set the second plate in front of Bayley, followed by a cup of coffee. Both drinks were the same, so there was no need to ask. They both thanked the waitress after she set Seth's drink down, and she walked away.

"You really do know what I like," Bayley chuckled. "This sandwich looks amazing."

"So does the girl who's eating it," Seth replied, being deliberately corny.

Bayley laughed even harder. "Oh god, that's awful."

Seth pretended to take offence. "I'll remember to be mean next time then, if that's what you want?"

"Only in the bedroom." Her eyes twinkled at him over the top of her coffee cup.

* * *

While Seth was upstairs, showing the electrician around as he worked on preparing a quotation for re-wiring the house, Bayley decided to take a couple of minutes to make a call to her father. It was a call that she had been putting off for some time, but it couldn't wait forever. It was time to break the news that she was dating someone. Of course, she wasn't ashamed of Seth, far from it. It was just that it was an awkward thing for a daughter to tell her father, under any circumstances. That was why she had chosen mid-afternoon to make the call. Her dad would be hard at work at the office, and wouldn't have much time to talk on the phone. Even the fact that she was choosing the time for that reason made her feel bad, but it was for the best. After some time to digest the news, she knew that her dad would be happy for her. He had never been one of those over-controlling fathers who wanted to keep his baby girl under lock and key so that no man could ever get near her. All he worried about was her happiness and safety, and neither of those things were in any doubt with Seth. Having said that, she wouldn't mention the purchase of the house as yet. That could wait for a later date, after Seth had met her family. Giving them the idea that things were being rushed wouldn't be a smart thing to do.

When she dialed her father's cell phone number, she knew that she wouldn't have to wait long for answer, and so it proved to be. "Hey, sweetheart," she heard after only three rings. There was pleasant surprise in his voice. Plenty of other voices could be heard in the background. The office was busy, as always.

"Hi, Dad! How are you?"

"I'm great. We haven't heard from you much lately. Is everything okay with you?"

"Everything's great," she assured him. "I'm sorry I've not been calling much and haven't been home to see you. The thing is, I've been really busy. I'm uh, actually, I'm dating someone."

"Oh." Surprise, which wasn't surprising at all. "Well that's... good news. Who are you dating? Is it one of the guys on the show?"

"Yeah. I'm dating Seth Rollins. We've been dating for a while now." Putting it that way wasn't lying, but it did make it seem like the relationship had been going longer than it really had. Something else to feel slightly guilty about. She began to pace around the kitchen, for no other reason than to do something with the nervous energy that was building up quickly inside her.

"The guy you're with on-screen. I guess that makes sense." Her father was still trying to process the news.

"I need you to know that he makes me very happy, Dad. I know how you feel about mom, that she's the person you thought you would never find, who makes you happier than you thought you ever deserved. You've told me that before. That's how Seth makes me feel. This isn't some casual relationship that's going to be over this time next month. I'm not going to be calling you, telling you that he's upset me or treated me like crap. We love each other. I want to bring him home to meet you guys soon, and when I do, I need to know that you won't give him a hard time. I know you won't anyway, but I still need you to promise me. I need you to be welcoming to him, okay?"

A pause. Her dad was trying to find the right thing to say, or maybe he was still processing the idea of his baby girl falling in love with someone. "He really makes you feel that happy?" came the reply, eventually.

"Yes, Dad. I wouldn't lie to you about it. Seth's a great guy, and I'm very lucky to be with him. So, like I said, I want to bring him home to meet you and mom, and I want you to welcome him and make him feel comfortable. I know he's nervous about meeting my dad especially, so I'm counting on you for this. I _can_ count on you, right?"

She heard her father let out out a quiet sigh, which he probably hoped hadn't made it to her end of the call. "Of course you can count on me, Bay. If you're happy, I'm happy, you know that. I'm looking forward to meeting Seth. When are you going to come see us?"

Having not spoken to Seth about it yet, she couldn't answer that question for certain. "Hopefully in the next week or two. You know how our schedules are. I'll let you know as soon as we can make a definite plan."

"Okay, sweetheart. Listen, I'm sorry, but I have to go. I've got somewhere here waiting to see me. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay, Dad. I love you. Say hi to mom for me, please."

"I will. I love you too, Bayley."

As she put her phone down on one of the work surfaces and put her gloves back on to resume cleaning, Bayley decided that she was pleased with how the conversation had gone. Yes, there had been some reservation from her dad as far as Seth was concerned, but that was to be expected of any father. The main thing was that he had said he would be welcoming to Seth whenever the time came for them to meet for the first time. With that guarantee now secured, she was very much looking forward to proudly introducing her man to her parents.


	26. Chapter 26

"Back to the grind already," Seth said, walking across the parking garage towards the entrance to the arena.

"I know, right?" Bayley agreed.

Their week off work had flown by, as time off work invariably did. It only felt like a matter of hours since they had left to head home, excited about the prospect of starting work on the renovations. At least progress had been good so far. All of the work that could be done before the roof was replaced and the damp taken was taken care of had been done. The utility room had been emptied out and deep cleaned, as had the garage. The kitchen had also been thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom. Then the focus had shifted to the front and rear gardens. All of the junk that had been left strewn on the rear lawn had been removed, as had all of the overgrown bushes and weeds. That really had been back-breaking work. Now all that remained was to lay some new turf, as the grass itself had seen better days, and to plant some nicer looking things in the borders. Neither Seth or Bayley knew anything about gardening, but his mom did, and he knew that she would be only too happy to help out if asked.

Making finishing touches to the garden was months in the future though. The next item on the list was having the roof replaced, work on which would have commenced that very afternoon. By the weekend, which would be the next time they went home for a couple of days, the roof would be on and hopefully tiled too, if the contractors made progress as quickly as they hoped to. Then, with the inside of the house safe from the elements at last, work could begin on dealing with the damp problems. When that had been taken care of, the plumber and the electrician could come in and start their work. Seth had purchased a wall chart from a stationary store and had sat down one night and turned it into a build program. Now pinned up on the living room wall, it detailed which contractors would be starting what work on which dates, and how long they were expected to take.

"Hey, we've got our own locker room now," Bayley remembered, smiling at the thought.

"That's when you know you've made the big time," Seth chuckled. "Hunter and Stephanie have got nothing on us."

"I'm not really the boss," she reminded him with a chuckle of her own.

"I know, but it's more fun to pretend you are."

* * *

"Place your bets," Seth said when someone knocked on their locker room door ten minutes later. "I say it's Roman."

"Sasha," Bayley countered.

They were both wrong. Seth opened the door and saw Charlotte standing there. "Hey, Charlotte. How are you?"

"I'm good thanks. You?"

"Great." He moved aside and gestured for her to enter the room. Neither of them were in the process of changing yet anyway.

"Hey," Bayley greeted her friend. "Miss me last week?"

"Like a hole in the head," Charlotte quipped, but she smiled as she said it. "Hunter wants to see us straight away. He's waiting for us out by the ring, apparently."

Bayley's first instinct was to wonder if she might be about to get another lecture about the incident with Dana Brooke, but she quickly dismissed it. There would be no reason for Charlotte to be there for that. Besides, out by the ring wasn't where you would be summoned to if you were going to get the riot act. No, this had to be something to do with either the lead up to their match at Hell in a Cell, or the match itself.

"Is it about our match?"

"I assume so. Only one way to find out, right?" Turning, Charlotte lead the way out into the hallway. As they walked, she changed the subject. "So how's it going with the house? Did you make much progress?"

"Yeah, we got quite a lot done actually. Although I'm glad I'm going to have a few days now without any cleaning to do. Oh, I met Seth's parents too."

Charlotte's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh! How did that go? Are they nice?"

"They really are. Seth told me I would get along great with them, and thankfully he was right. They're both genuine, kind people. We spent a nice evening at their house, eating takeout pizza and chatting. Sometimes it's the small things, you know?"

"I know what you mean. So when are you taking Seth to meet your folks? That's always the more interesting one, the boyfriend meeting the father and all."

"Yeah," Bayley replied with a little grimace. "We're going to do it next week, I think. I already spoke to my dad and told him about Seth. You know what he's like, how laid back he is. He will have taken a day or two to process it and he'll be fine by the time we get there."

"You really shouldn't have told Seth your dad's like that. You should have made out like he was going to get the third degree, maybe even get his legs broken."

"That's so cruel," Bayley chuckled. "I could never do that to Seth."

Charlotte put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a playful squeeze as they walked down the entrance ramp, avoiding some of the crew members who were still working on setting up the stage. "You're too soft, Bay. But that's why we love you."

Approaching ringside, they saw the boss standing against the barricade in front of the ringside seats, talking to a couple more crew members. When he saw them approaching, Hunter beckoned them over. The crew members took that as their cue to leave and made themselves scarce. Greetings were exchanged, then Hunter gestured for the two of them to sit down on the ring apron, while he remained standing in front of them. It was hard for him to keep a straight face, knowing how much what he had to say was going to mean to two of 'his' stars.

"I've got some news for you, ladies. We had a creative meeting the other day, discussing your match at Hell in a Cell. What I put on the table, and what's now been agreed to by Vince, is that your match won't just take place _at_ Hell in a Cell, it will take place _in_ Hell in a Cell. You're going to be in the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match."

It took a second for the weight of that announcement to hit Bayley. A truly momentous match was going to take place in just a few weeks, and she was going to be one of the two people in it, making history again. After starring in the main even of a pay-per-view on NXT, she had wondered what might possibly top that experience. This was the answer. A women's Hell in a Cell match was something that she had never even imagined would happen. Looking at Charlotte, she could see that her close friend was thinking the same kind of thing.

"Thank you, Hunter," Charlotte managed to say.

"Yes, thank you," Bayley added. "I really appreciate the faith you keep showing..."

"I'm not done," Hunter said, holding his hand up to stop her. "It has also been decided that your match is going to be the main event of the pay-per-view. And I'm not talking about one of those 'we've got three main events' kind of deals either. I'm talking about the real main event, last on the card. Congratulations, ladies. You deserve it."

Bayley was looking down at the grey mats which covered the concrete floor by the time he finished speaking. She scrunched her eyes closed tightly, trying to stop herself from bursting into tears. She felt Charlotte's arm go around her shoulders again, and that started the tears flowing, much as she tried to hide it. What surprised her even more was that when she heard Charlotte thank Hunter, it was obvious that her friend was on the verge crying too. It was uncharacteristic for Charlotte, but it wasn't really a surprise given how big the news was. WWE had never had a women's match main event a main roster pay-per-view before. It was an honour beyond description.

The next thing Bayley felt was Hunter joining in with the hug, and that made her really start to cry. She had this man to thank for everything good that had happened in her career since she had signed for WWE. It was Hunter who had given her the gimmick as the hugger. It was Hunter who had always shown faith in her when others had doubted if she was good enough to make it big. Hunter had even been the one who had made sure that she was left on NXT until he felt the time was right for her to come up to the main roster. And that was exactly how he had looked at it too, she knew. When it was right for her, not when it was right for the company. Hunter genuinely cared about the people who worked for him, and that was a special quality to have. One thing she knew for sure was that she would not let him down. Neither would Charlotte. They would put on a Hell in a Cell match that was worthy of the description, and worthy of having the top spot on the card as well.

With that determination in mind, she finally managed to get herself under control. Hunter had pulled away from the hug after only a few moments and had taken a step back. She looked up and met his eyes. "Thank you, Hunter, for everything. I don't even know what else to say to express how much this means to me."

"She's right," Charlotte agreed, wiping away a tear of her own from her cheek. "This means so much to me, to both of us. We owe..."

"No," Hunter stopped her, only kindness in his tone. "Like I said, you deserve it. I told Vince the two of you are more than good enough to put on a main event match in the cell, and that's exactly what we're going to do. What I want you to do is take some time this week, get together at some point, and work on some ideas for the match. Then all three of us will sit down next week before Raw and go over it in detail. As you both know, you're going over for the title, Charlotte. So, have a think about some of the spots you want to do, and what you want to do for a finish, okay?"

"Okay," Bayley agreed.

"You got it," Charlotte added, then turned to Bayley. "We could go get something to eat tonight after the show if you want, just the two of us? We've not done that for ages."

Bayley's first thought was whether Seth would mind, but she soon realised that she was being stupid. Of course he wouldn't mind. If anything, he would probably be glad of the chance to spend some time with Roman, just the two of them. "Sure, let's do that," she replied with a smile.

"Right," Hunter said, clapping his hands together to emphasise the fact that their conversation was over. "Bayley, join me in my office will you?"

"Okay," she agreed, feeling instinctively nervous.

"I'll stay and work with these guys for a bit," Charlotte said as she got off the apron, gesturing towards the ring where Nia was working some practice drills with a couple of local talents.

With that, Bayley and Hunter headed around the ring towards the entrance ramp. "How are things going at the house?" Hunter asked. "Do you have a lot of work to do on it?" She recognised it as small talk, but at least he was taking an interest.

"There's a lot still to do, but we made some good progress so far. We did a lot of cleaning, tidying the garden up, that kind of thing."

"You had Seth cleaning all week? I need to see pictures of that," Hunter said with a hearty chuckle.

They walked in silence for a minute, making their way up the ramp and through the Gorilla Position, until Bayley's nerves got the better of her. "What's this about, Hunter? If it's the thing with Dana, I'm..."

"What? Why would it be about that? That was dealt with at the time. You deserved a warning for your reaction, and I gave you a warning. Unless that kind of thing happens again, we'll say no more about it. No, this is about tonight's show."

"Oh, okay," Bayley said, relieved.

"You're opening the show," Hunter went on. "You're going to talk about how people have been questioning if you and Mick can work together, whether you'll make a good management team. You'll see it in your script when you read it, obviously. But that's not all. As you know, we decided to give Smackdown the Cruiserweight division. It's logical that your character would object to that, even though it happened before you took charge, and you would want to get one over on Smackdown as a result. That's why you and Mick would have decided to bring this back." They had reached his office with perfect timing, and Hunter had opened the door to reveal what 'this' was as he said it.

"Oh!" Bayley exclaimed when she saw what was sitting on his desk. "Well, that's not what I expected. It's awesome, but it's not what I expected." She walked over to the desk so that she could examine it in closer detail.

"No one will expect it, but we think people will love it. The same rules will be in place as before too. You remember, the twenty-four seven thing?"

"How could I forget? I loved watching that stuff when I was a kid!"

"Don't say things like that," Hunter said, over-emphasising his cringe. "You really know how to make a guy feel old."

Bayley picked up the item from the table and held it over her shoulder. "What do you think, Hunter? Bayley Martinez, WWE Hardcore Champion. Is this the same belt as before too? It looks like it is."

"It's men only for the Hardcore division I'm afraid. And no, it's not the same title belt, although we did make it look a lot like the original one. I think Mick has the original one, if I remember correctly. Anyway, the plan is that you'll unveil the belt, announcing that Raw has a Hardcore division and that the twenty-four seven rule will come into effect after the inaugural Hardcore title match later in the night, which will be Enzo taking on Sheamus. After the match, both of their partners will also win the title thanks to twenty-four seven, before Enzo wins it back and manages to flee the building."

"Sounds like a lot of fun," Bayley smiled, setting the belt carefully back down on his desk. Some of the old hardcore matches had been the stuff of legends. More than once they had ended up outside of the arena altogether. She could remember watching one match which had ended up in the Mississippi River. "This is another step away from PG then, obviously."

"Yeah, that's right. After Hell in a Cell, the twenty-four seven rule will come back to bite Commissioner Martinez on the ass. What I need you to make sure you say out there tonight is that any superstar can attempt to win the title at any time, as long as they have a referee with them to make the count. It's important that you do _not_ say the word Raw. Do _not_ make it clear that only Raw superstars are eligible to compete for the belt."

"You're going to have someone from Smackdown show up one night and steal it," Bayley realised. "Damn, my character will be crazy angry at that."

"Exactly. We want tensions rising between the brands. This is a good way to do it. So, you're clear on what you need to say?"

"I am."

"Alright, thank you, Bayley. You can go."

"Thanks again, Hunter. It means so much to me to be in the cell match. I won't let you down, I promise."

Hunter nodded his acknowledgement of her thanks, and gave her a reassuring smile. "I know."

* * *

"Didn't she feed you last week or something?" Roman asked, watching Seth attacking his plate of bacon, sausages and eggs. Catering always had unhealthy options available for those you wanted indulge themselves, and Seth was certainly making the most of it today.

"I'm hungry," Seth protested through a mouthful of sausage.

"Yes, I can see that."

While they had been waiting in line to select their food, Seth had relayed some of the events of the past week, including taking Bayley to meet his parents. The last thing he had mentioned before starting to eat his meal had intervened was the modifications he intended to make to the kitchen, including building the decking outside of the new French doors.

"You're building the decking yourself then?" Roman asked, continuing from where they had left off. "Let me guess, that's where Dean and I are going to come in?"

"You didn't honestly think you were getting away without helping out, did you?" Seth countered. "I'd have asked you to help out with the decorating, but I've seen your place."

"Ohh!" Roman exclaimed, overplaying the comment, making out like it really was offensive to him. "You just wait till I tell my wife you said that. She'll bury your ass in your stupid new garden. But yeah, Dean and I will help. Someone's got to do the heavy lifting after all, and it's not going to be your skinny ass."

Seth laughed, causing some egg to drop onto the front of his shirt. "Shit," he muttered, picking up a napkin and trying to wipe it off.

Whilst laughing at his friend's clumsiness, Roman saw Bayley enter the room. She looked around, saw them, and started walking over towards them. "Now you're in trouble," he told Seth. "Here comes your boss, and you've got egg all down your shirt."

Looking up, Seth gave him a theatrical rabbit in the headlights look, then went back to wiping his shirt, more frantically now. Fortunately, he managed to finish the job just in time before Bayley got there. Unfortunately, she had seen what he was doing.

By now, with the three of them traveling between shows together, Bayley was getting used to the kind of banter that went on between Seth and Roman, and she occasionally liked to join in with it. Making sure she didn't do it too often seemed to make the times when she did join in seem even funnier to the two men. "Are you spilling food all over yourself again?" she asked as she approached the table. Sure enough, Roman laughed loudly.

"No. What gives you that idea?" Seth asked, feigning innocence.

"Well, it could either be the fact that I saw you wiping your shirt, which still has what looks a lot like egg all over it, or it could be the fact that there's a napkin covered in egg on the table right in front of you."

"See what I have to live with?" Seth complained to Roman as Bayley sat down beside him. "You can't away with anything with this one."

"I'd keep that in mind more often," Roman suggested, grinning.

While the two of them continued with the banter, Bayley waited for her moment to break the fantastic news about the Hell in a Cell match. She knew that Seth would be delighted for her to say the least. He would be concerned for her safety too, of course. Matches in the cell were dangerous, and getting injured was a very real possibility, and that was before she told him about the idea that she was already considering pitching to Charlotte and Hunter for a finish. Seth wasn't going to like that at all.

"I have news," she said eventually, when the opportunity arrived.

Now making sure to swallow his food before speaking, a fact which didn't escape Roman's amusement, Seth clicked his fingers. "Of course, sorry. What did Hunter want to see you for?"

"He wanted to talk about the match that Charlotte and I are having at Hell in a Cell. It's been decided that we're going to wrestle _in_ the cell."

Turning to face her properly, Seth raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're going to be in a Hell in a Cell match?"

"That's right." She gave him one of her biggest smiles.

Not even considering that Roman was sitting there, committing what he was seeing to memory for later use, Seth grabbed her into a slightly awkward hug. Sitting at a table was hardly the ideal position to be in. "Oh, angel, that's amazing. I'm so pleased for you. You really deserve it. Both of you do. You'll tear the house down."

"Thank you, baby. We're the main event too," she revealed, still hugging him. "The actual main event, last on the card."

"Oh wow," Seth said, pulling back slightly so that he could kiss her. Knowing how much the opportunity would mean to his girlfriend, he actually felt himself tearing up a little, and a lump was forming in his throat. "This is such a huge deal for you, and for wrestling. I couldn't be happier for you. Talk about breaking the glass ceiling. This is incredible."

"Yeah, congratulations This is awesome news," Roman added from the other side of the table. "Like he said, you'll tear the house down. It was about time we had a women's main event."

"Thanks," Bayley smiled at him, letting go of Seth and returning to sitting normally. Taking in a deep breath, she decided to go for it. It was better to just get it out there. "Hunter told Charlotte and I to put some thought into the match and to come up with a finish. We're going to go out for something to eat tonight after the show and talk about it then, but I have an idea in mind for the finish already, if Hunter will go for it."

"Oh?" Seth asked, a little warily.

"I'm dropping the title, and I'm not going to get it back for some time. Vince said he doesn't want me to have it while I'm playing Commissioner Martinez. So, I got to thinking that if I'm going to lose it, in this match of all matches, I want to lose it in style."

"What are you saying?" Seth was even more wary now.

"I'm saying I want to come off the top of the cell."

Silence descended on the table.


	27. Chapter 27

Seth didn't know how to react to the bombshell that Bayley had just dropped on him. She was serious about the idea of coming off the top of the cell to end her match with Charlotte. On the face of it, he could see why she wanted to do it. The first ever women's Hell in a Cell match needed to be memorable, that was for sure. And if she came off the top of the cell, she would make a real name for herself in the process. But it wasn't that simple.

People had jumped or been thrown off the top of the cell before, and only once had it ended in serious injury, when Mick Foley had inadvertently landed on a steel chair in the ring. The risks were significant though, and Seth couldn't imagine what he would do if Bayley injured herself attempting the crazy stunt that she was talking about. Images of her lying in a hospital bed with a broken leg or even worse a broken back or neck forced their way into his mind. Just picturing those things made his blood run cold. That kind of thing wasn't in the script for their relationship. They were supposed to be happy, healthy and working on renovating a house together. None of those things would be the case if something went wrong with a fall from the top of the cell.

"Guys, I'm going to let you talk about this in private," Roman said. He knew that a serious conversation was about to happen between them, and he had no place being involved in it. After Seth nodded his acknowledgement, he picked up his plate of food and moved over to a nearby table.

Seth looked Bayley in the eye, trying to think of a way to talk her out of what she wanted to do, without upsetting her in the process. But the way she was looking back at him pulled on his heart strings. She was desparate for him to be supportive. It was written all over her face, and he could see it particularly in her eyes. She knew that she was talking about something dangerous, something that he wouldn't be keen on. Even so, she wanted him to support her. It was a really awkward position to be in for Seth. The choices were to back her, which would mean spending the next few weeks worrying about what was going to happen, or tell her that he didn't want her to do it. He could perfectly imagine the downcast, sad expression that he would quickly see on her face if he went that way. He just couldn't do it. Besides, was it not his job as a loving boyfriend to be supportive? Surely there would be times in the future where one of his matches required a dangerous spot, and he would want Bayley's support when that time came. That kind of thing had to go both ways.

"Tell me what you're thinking, baby?" she asked him gently.

"I'm just trying to take it in," Seth replied. "Obviously I'm worried that you'll get hurt. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"I know there are risks," Bayley conceded. She took his hand and held it tightly in her own. "I want to do this though, Seth. I want this match to be talked about for years to come. Hunter has shown so much faith in Charlotte and I with this. We need to pay him back. I trust myself to pull this off, and I trust Charlotte to pull it off. I need you to trust those things too, baby."

It was impossible for Seth to say no to that. An idea had come to him though; not exactly a compromise in the literal sense, but something to make him feel a bit better about the proposed finish. "I'm not going to stop worrying about this, obviously. I can see how much it means to you though, so of course I will support you. I totally understand why you want to do such a huge and memorable spot in this match. I would feel a bit better about it at least if we could agree to you falling through the cell into the ring rather than through the commentary table to the floor."

"Oh, that's what I had in mind anyway," Bayley replied quickly. "Sorry, I should have made that clear. So, you're okay with it?"

Seth shook his head. "No. There's no way I could be okay with it. I will support you though. I know I would want you to do that for me if the situation was reversed, and I know how reluctant you would be. It's the nature of this business I guess. Just promise me you'll be as careful as you can."

"I promise," she told him earnestly.

Despite the fact that they were sitting in catering, Seth leaned forward and kissed her.

The enotion of the moment only made the kiss feel even better. Bayley moaned with pleasure into his mouth before raising her hands to his cheeks and kissing him even more passionately. Both of them wished that they could just leave the arena and go back to their hotel so that they could spend the night in a very different way.

* * *

When they had gotten back to the hotel, the inevitable sex had ended up being a brief encounter, although it had been no less passionate for it. The reason for the urgency was that Bayley and Charlotte had decided to spend their rare night out together at a local restaurant that had been recommended to Charlotte, and Bayley hadn't had much time to shower, change and meet her friend down in the lobby.

The restaurant they had gone to was the kind of place where the food was expensive, but not overly so, and it was worth the money, at least if the recommendation was accurate. The atmosphere in the restaurant was certainly to Bayley's liking - friendly, welcoming, but not overly noisy. The fact that no wrestling fans were in there also helped. Again, it was a perk of traveling right after the show.

While waiting for their food to arrive, they had chatted again about Bayley and Seth's week off work. She had gone into greater detail about her first visit to Seth's parents house, and had also talked at greater length about the early stages of work on the renovations. To Charlotte, it sounded like a lot of unnecessary time and effort spent on things that they could easily have hired people to do. Of course, she didn't say that. Seeing how happy Bayley was about the whole thing was heart-warming.

Their food arrived in a timely manner - chicken breasts in a herb sauce for Bayley, and pan roasted salmon for Charlotte. After they had both made a start on their meals, Bayley changed the subject of their conversation.

"What do you think of my new character so far? You've always had that cool talent of being able to get into the heads of people's characters. I love to hear you talk about that kind of thing, so let's hear your take on Commissioner Martinez."

"Alright," Charlotte grinned after taking a sip from her glass of red wine. "Obviously, it's early days. We've not been able to see you in action much as your new character yet. I don't know what the long term goal is supposed to be for her either, but I'll give it to you how I see it."

"Go on," Bayley encouraged her, looking up from cutting up a piece of chicken.

"I think Commissioner Martinez is a very professional woman. What I mean by that is she doesn't have time in her life for much outside of work. Obviously she's in a happy relationship with Seth, but aside from that? I think the job is what she lives for. Making Monday Night Raw better, at least better in the ways that she sees as better, is the number one thing that motivates her. That means she will take great pride, both professional and personal, in any success that Raw has. Of course, that also means that any failure for Raw, or anything Smackdown might do against Raw, will be taken just as personally. That seems to be the idea with the Hardcore title. They're going to have someone from Smackdown come over and win it, effectively stealing it. That would be a crime almost without compare as far as the commissioner is concerned. She would consider it a declaration of war, and as a matter of principle she would have to throw everything into that war. Victory would be the only option for her. Any kind negotiated peace would seem like she and Raw were both losing face, and she wouldn't have that."

Bayley had totally forgotten about her food while listening to that. As always, she marveled at Charlotte's gift. They hadn't talked at length about the Commissioner Martinez character, but a lot of what Charlotte had said was exactly how she saw it too. "What if she had resistance from people on Raw about taking on Smackdown, Foley maybe?"

"She would probably look down on them with suspicion, thinking of them as traitors within. Or maybe she would just think that they lacked the kind of strength of character that she undoubtedly has. Backing down from conflict is clearly not in her nature, we've seen that already with the striking referees."

"What about losing the Hell in a Cell match?"

Charlotte slowly ate a mouthful of food while she considered that. It amused her to see just how hooked Bayley was on listening to her. "Honestly, I don't think that would hurt her anything like as much as an attack on Raw by Smackdown," she decided. "The fact that Raw had such an awesome main event on their show would offset the pain of the defeat. Now that I think about it, we could pitch the idea to Hunter that we film a short backstage segment after the match. Maybe it goes out on the website that night or maybe it's shown on Raw the next night. We would see the beaten, forlorn Bayley sitting in her locker room. Seth's probably there too, telling her not to be too upset about losing the belt. She was in the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match, and that's an amazing achievement. Then I walk in. You get to your feet and there's a stare down. Then I say something like, 'It's over'. There could be a handshake out of mutual respect. I am a face now after all, and you're supposed to be a tweener of some kind."

"I like that a lot," Bayley said, nodding appreciatively. "Rather than a handshake though, a hug might be better. It shows there's still a bit of the old Bayley in there somewhere, plus it's more respectful. We should definitely pitch this to Hunter."

"And you should eat your food," Charlotte pointed out with a grin.

Realising that she hadn't eaten anything for a few minutes, Bayley tucked back into her chicken breasts. They ate in companionable silence for a while, before Bayley said, "Have you had any ideas for spots for the match? I have something in mind for the finish, but I don't know if Hunter will go for it."

"We definitely have to get out of the cell at some point. I know it happens most of the time now in cell matches, but we still need to do it. I thought of a way we might do it." She went on to outline her idea.

Bayley nodded her agreement. "That would work."

"What was your idea for the finish?"

"You might think I'm crazy," Bayley muttered as she used her fork to cover a piece of chicken in the herb sauce. "But I've been thinking that we need to make this match really memorable. It deserves to be. Plus, I'm not going to get another run with the belt for some time, so I want the way that I lose it to be worth losing it."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I want the finish to involve me coming off the top of the cell."

Charlotte paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, looking at Bayley like she had two heads. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Bayley replied simply. "I talked about it with Seth earlier. Unsurprisingly, he was very reluctant to start with, but I managed to talk him around. We would still need to get Hunter to agree to it, but I'm hopeful that he will. Here's what I pictured happening." She went on to lay out her idea step by step.

"Well, that could definitely work," Charlotte conceded. "If you're really sure about it, we can see what Hunter says."

"I'm sure." Bayley left no room for doubt at all.

Silence returned to the table. Both women were thinking about how the proposed ending would go over with the fans. Nothing as big had been done in a women's match before, but then there had never been a women's match as big as this before. A big match called for a big finish. If Hunter did allow them to do what they wanted, there was a real chance that the match would be talked about for many years to come, and that was a big deal for both of them. People still talked about the first time that Mick Foley had come off the top of the cell, nearly twenty years after it had happened. Their match might not make an impact that big, but it could definitely make a big one. The silence began to make Bayley feel a little uncomfortable after a couple of minutes, so she used the first thing that came to mind to make conversation.

"I can't believe Alicia tried to get in my face again earlier. For some reason, her and Dana really have a problem with me getting a push, don't they?"

Charlotte gave a derogatory grunt at the mention of Alicia's name. "Who cares what she thinks, or what Dana thinks? If people are jealous of you, it shows you're doing something right. That's what my dad always told me. It was funny when Sasha put her in her place though," she added with a giggle.

Bayley laughed at the memory. Charlotte had guided her away from Alicia, and as Sasha had followed them, she had left Alicia with a parting shot: "Hey, I saw on Twitter today they had one of those 'on this day in WWE history' things. It was on this day in 2008, the last time anyone gave a fuck about Alicia Fox."

"It really was brutal," the current Women's Champion said. "She deserved it, but it was brutal. I just don't understand why they single me out."

"Because they think they can bully you, Bay. They know they wouldn't get a reaction from me or Sasha, at least not the kind they want, but they think they can upset you and make your life miserable. That's what a bully wants to do. I'm glad you stood up for yourself the other week, even if you did get a warning for it. You showed them that you're not a pushover. What you really need is a bit more of that iron-willed toughness that your character has."

"I'm trying my best," Bayley said, not realising that it was progress in itself that she wasn't already looking down at her food rather than at Charlotte.

"I know you are. I can tell. It's obviously not something that comes easily to you, but you've managed to find it in the ring. The way you speak to people sometimes when you're in character now, and some of the looks you give people? Damn. You know what they say about if looks could kill. You'd have quite a body count to your name already."

"Really?" Bayley gave a nervous laugh. "I've not even been doing that on purpose."

Charlotte drank some more of her wine. "Are you serious? You didn't know those looks were a thing? You must have seen the picture of you looking at Cole last week in that interview. Everyone's making memes out of it."

"I haven't been online much - too busy." Bayley reached for her phone, which was sitting on the table. She was curious to see the picture that Charlotte was talking about. Searching up Bayley Martinez and Michael Cole soon brought up what she was after. As Charlotte had said, the picture was a screen grab from the interview that had aired on WWE's website the previous week. In response to some question or other, she guessed it was one relating to the referee strike, she was looking at Cole like a hawk with its eyes set on some particularly tasty looking prey. She knew that there would have been real contempt in her voice at the time too.

The fact that the facial expression hadn't been deliberate intrigued Bayley. She was getting more into her new character than even she realised. She was defending her character's decisions with such vigour, and it was already coming as second nature. Sitting there looking at the picture was a profound moment for her. The woman in the image was Commissioner Bayley Martinez.

"Have you found it?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, I've found it." Bayley looked up at her friend. "It's just hit me now that I've really found my character. I think this will help me a lot. What I mean is, I've been trying to stop myself feeling nervous and awkward about playing this new role. I've been second guessing myself, thinking that I would crack at some point and start looking nervous or anxious while I was on-screen. That's not going to happen, is it?" She had asked the question in a way that indicated that she already knew the answer.

"No way," Charlotte told her emphatically. "In the ring, you're already doing great. It's out of it that you need more confidence, but you're getting a lot better since you've been with Seth."

Bayley knew that she was right. Being with Seth had made her feel so much better and more confident about every aspect of her life. Without him, this heel turn could well have failed spectacularly, and taken her career with it. Thankfully she had gotten lucky, with Seth coming into her life at just the right time.

"Are you going to eat your food, Bay? I'm looking forward to dessert here."

"Sorry."

Bayley put her phone back on the table and carried on eating. The topic of conversation quickly changed to the latest locker room gossip. There was a rumor that John Cena might be considering proposing to Nikki Bella.

"Like that's ever going to happen," Charlotte said, laughing hard.


	28. Chapter 28

"I can't wait to see how much they've done."

Seth looked across at Bayley, whose turn it was to drive them from the airport in Des Moines to their new house in the suburb of Waukee. They were now only a matter of moments away, as she turned the car onto their street. The neighbourhood was quiet as usual, especially so in fact, because it was lunch time on a weekday. Having discussed the work with the contractor that he had hired to remove and replace the house's entire roof, Seth knew roughly what to expect to see when they rounded the small curve in the street and their home came into view.

"They've made good progress," he announced, satisfied with what he saw.

"Oh, Seth! Look at it!" Bayley nearly squealed with delight. Never would she have thought that looking at a roof could stir that kind of emotion inside her. She didn't know any of the correct terminology, but she could see that the new roof timbers had all been built - if that was even the right word. Felt had been laid on top, and several of the contractor's men were currently at work putting new tiles in place.

"By the end of tomorrow they should be done," Seth told her. "First major job complete, babe."

Bayley pulled their hire car up to the curb in front of the house - the contractor's van was parked on the driveway. They got out and just stood by the car for a moment, looking up at the new roof. It already looked so much better than the other one had, with its missing and broken tiles. Seth walked around to join her on the sidewalk and put an arm around her shoulders. As was her habit, she immediately nestled against him as much as she could. To her surprise, emotions started to well up inside of her. Seeing the work really starting on their dream home seemed to have really driven it home in her head that this would one day actually be the place that they lived, and what a wonderful place to live it would be by then.

"I'm so happy right now, Seth," she told him quietly. "This is going to be such a nice place to live. We're going to be so happy here."

"Of course we are, angel." Seth squeezed her a little with the arm that was wrapped around her. "Come on, let's go in. I want to see what else they've managed to do."

Bayley pulled away so that she could look up at him. "What do you mean? I thought they were only doing the roof this week."

Seth grinned. "I know you _thought_ that. It wouldn't have been a surprise if I'd have told you about it."

"Told me about what?"

Seth laughed this time. "I'm still not telling you. You're going to have to see for yourself."

Taking her hand, he lead her up the driveway and through the front door, which had been left standing open. The first thing Bayley noticed was the dirty boot prints all over the hallway floor, and leading up the stairs. It was a good thing that all of the floors and the staircase were going to be replaced, or her desire for cleanliness would have gone into overdrive. As it was, she could just about contain it.

The next thing that struck her was the sound of hammering, along with men talking to each other. It was coming from the living room. Seth lead her in that direction. When they walked into the room, she couldn't help gasping at what she saw. The living room ceiling was gone. Two workmen were in the room, working on putting up new... what was the word?

"We have new floor joists," Seth told her, as if on cue. "Remember how the bedroom floor was sagging so bad from the water damage? That was because the joists were rotting. They needed to come out, which meant the ceiling in here had to come down."

"And we'll soon be ready to start putting the new one up," one of the contractor's men added. Listening to the way the customer had described the work to his girlfriend, wife, whatever, had told him two things: The guy knew a bit about what he was talking about, and she hadn't got a clue. Happy to help out, he beckoned Bayley over.

"Look up and you can see up into the roof," he told her when she was standing next to him. "Once we've got these joists in, got the floor boards down in the bedroom above us, and done the ceiling down here, we can start work on getting a ceiling up in the bedroom, too. The damage the water did will be fixed before you know it."

"You guys work fast," Bayley said, very impressed.

"Not really. There are a few of on the job, and it's not as much work as you might think. We've been at it all week, so we're on track with where we expected to be."

"Looking good, isn't it?" Seth asked her as he walked up to stand beside her. Then to the workman: "You're working on the kitchen next week then, right?"

"That's right. If I remember correctly, taking out a doorway, replacing it with a window, and putting in French doors at the far end of the kitchen to open out into the garden?"

"Right," Seth confirmed. He knew that installing French doors in place of a much smaller window was serious structural work, which meant that it definitely wasn't something for amateurs like Bayley and himself to try.

"End of next week, maybe early the week after, we should be finished with the building work," the workman told them. "We also have the damp problem to deal with. Obviously, we've now fixed the source of the moisture and removed the damaged floors and ceilings, but the walls themselves still need to be dealt with."

"How do you do that?" Bayley asked him.

"You have damp mainly in the bedroom up there of course, but it has also spread down into this room. You can see it there in the corner for example." He pointed to a small patch of green mold in the top corner of the room. "We've been around and tested all of the rooms with a moisture content meter, and it's only these two that need work. To answer your question, we'll have to strip off all of the affected wallpaper and plasterboard, all the way to the brickwork. Luckily, this is a very well built house, nice thick walls. They'll dry out well enough. Two, maybe three weeks with fans and heaters working on them and we'll be able to re-plaster for you."

Seth nodded his approval and gratitude. The work was being carried out to a high standard, by competent and polite people. His father's recommendation had come through for them, not that there had been any doubt about that. He and Bayley spent a few minutes walking around the house, inspecting what had been done and talking about what was yet to be started. It was all very exciting Bayley. What she lacked in knowledge, she made up for in enthusiasm. It was easy to teach someone who wanted to learn. Seth described some of the work involved in putting a new roof on the house, and she found herself struck by how knowledgeable he was. She was lucky to have such a smart guy for a boyfriend. The description definitely didn't apply to all of the men in the locker room. As they stood in the doorway of the bedroom where the new floor joists were being installed, there was only one problem on her mind.

"Seth? It's great that we've come home and seen the progress they're making, but it feels like we can't really do anything with the workmen here. We've already done as much as we can with the gardens, and we've thrown out all of the junk. We've got this afternoon and all day tomorrow to spend here. What are we going to do?"

"There's plenty we can do," Seth assured her. "In fact, I already decided what we're going to do. Follow me."

Turning, he lead her the short distance to the master bedroom. "This is where we're going to be working. There's no reason for any of the guys to come in here, so we shouldn't be disturbed, and we won't be disturbing them."

"Okay. What are we going to be doing?"

Seth made his announcement sound like the most enticing prospect in the world. "Today, we're going to be stripping wallpaper. We also need to sand down the door frames and window ledges." He half expected a sarcastic response, but that wasn't her nature. Instead, she smiled at him, showing genuine eagerness.

"Alright. Shall we do the door frames first? Show me what we need to do."

"First things first, we need to get changed."

* * *

"Only you could look sexy dressed like that," he told her ten minutes later. They had both changed into their overalls, and were also wearing dust masks. Bayley also had latex gloves on because she refused point blank to get her hands covered in dust. The equipment that they needed for the work had been carried upstairs from the utility room.

Bayley giggled. "Shush. No one looks good dressed like this. I look like a complete idiot. We're here to work though, not look good."

"Yes, boss," Seth replied, giving her a salute to press home his sarcasm.

Bayley giggled again at his silliness, then it was time to get down to work. They were standing in the doorway to the master bedroom's en-suite. Seth picked up the portable sanding machine and showed her how to switch it on. It wasn't that he was trying to be patronising, he wanted to make sure that she knew how to operate all of the tools they would need to use on the project, so that in future they could work separately on different tasks when needed, which would help to get the work completed much quicker. He spent a few minutes showing her how to correctly sand the wood down to give the finish that they required.

"I'll give it a go now." She took the sander from him and tried to carry on from the small area that he had demonstrated on.

Seeing that she wasn't pressing down quite hard enough, Seth reached over her shoulder, placed his hand over hers and pressed down slightly. "Press down a little harder, babe."

Although she tried to focus on the task at hand, Bayley found herself thinking of the moment as very intimate, with Seth standing so close to her and leaning over her. Even the way he was holding her hand in his own felt so nice. If the house hadn't been full of workmen, she would have been seriously tempted to stop working and kiss him right there and then. That would have to lead to sex though, and there was no way she was going to do that with strangers in the house. As difficult and frustrating as it was, it would have to wait until they got back to the hotel.

"Okay, that's it," Seth encouraged, not realising any of what she had been thinking. "I'll leave you to do that, and I'll make a start on the wallpaper."

Some time later, Bayley turned off the sander and gave a satisfied sigh as she stretched her back muscles. "Seth, I'm done," she announced, proud of her work.

Seth finished scraping off the obstinate piece of wallpaper backing that he was working on, then turned around to check out her handiwork. "You're a natural, babe," he told her with a smile. The door frame was sanded down just about as well as it would have been if he had done it himself. She was a quick learner. "You've done a great job with that. Why don't I take over and do the other door, and you can try your hand at stripping some of this. We'll have this done by the time we have to leave tomorrow."

"Would you believe me if I said I'm enjoying this?" Bayley asked as she walked over to him.

"Yeah, I would. You know how I know?"

"How?"

Seth lifted his dust mask up to his forehead and then lifted hers also. He kissed her on the lips, then said, "Because I'm enjoying it too. I always wanted to buy a house and do this, but I never could have imagined I'd find the girl of my dreams to do it with me."

"Aww, you say the sweetest things, baby." Bayley reached up and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, pulling his head down towards her in the process. They kissed passionately for several moments, then she added, "I'm going to enjoy working on it as much as you do. Just being here with you makes me happier than I ever thought I could be."

"Now who's saying sweet things?" Seth asked, before kissing her again.

* * *

"Sorry about that," Hunter said after ending the call that he'd had to take. "Now, let's carry on. We were at the point where you ended up outside the cell. I like the idea of how you you break out. So what's next? Fighting at ringside for a while?"

Bayley and Charlotte were both sitting in front of his desk for the impromptu creative meeting. Hunter had been given licence by Vince McMahon to book the women's Hell in a Cell match, so whatever was agreed during this meeting would be what ended up happening live on pay-per-view. Several spots had already been agreed before the urgent phone call had interrupted them.

"Yeah, we can fight at ringside for a while if needed," Charlotte replied. "What we actually want to do though is go on top of the cell."

"Woah." Hunter held up a hand to stop her. "Let's think carefully about what we're saying here."

"We have thought about it, Hunter," Bayley told him, congratulating herself on her courage as she did so. "We sat down and talked about it at length after Raw last week, like you suggested."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you on top of the cell."

"Then you're probably not going to like our idea for a finish much." Bayley went on to describe what she had in mind.

By the time she had finished, Hunter had leaned back in his chair and made a strange sound that was somewhere between a laugh and an expression of trepidation. "I don't know about this at all, ladies."

"But it _is_ doable?" Charlotte pressed. Getting that point clarified was the first step towards getting him to agree to book it.

"Well, yeah, it's doable in terms of practicality. It's the safety aspect that concerns me, not the practicality of it. The last thing I want is for this thing to end with you getting seriously hurt, Bayley. Yes, we want to put on an excellent and historic match, I want that a much as you do, but that doesn't mean someone has to end up in hospital. How about we look at other ways to do a less dangerous spot off the cell? Maybe you could be hanging off the side of the cell and fall through the commentary table, something like that?"

"Would you let one of the guys do this finish?" Bayley asked, stunned now at how direct she was being. Wherever it was coming from, this new found confidence really was a nice thing to have.

Hunter raised an eyebrow slightly while he considered that. The answer, he had to admit, was yes. The finish was dangerous, but similar things, and worse, had been done in the past without a great deal of debate on the subject in advance. It was only because it was Bayley who was in line to take the fall this time that he was reluctant. A large part of him didn't feel guilty about that either. Women should be treated differently to men in some ways, and it was nothing to do with sexism. Someone like Bayley just didn't have a body that was as built to take that kind of abuse as someone like Mick Foley did. That was a simple fact, not a judgement call. Even so, was he being too cautious? It was a very difficult spot to be in. He could see that both Bayley and Charlotte desperately wanted him to give the green light to the finish. Saying no would be tough on them, and would leave them disappointed about not being able to put on the match that they wanted to. Having said that, the ultimate responsibility was his. If Bayley did get injured, both the guilt and the fallout would rightly come his way. Silence had descended on the office while he deliberated.

Bayley could see that Hunter was in two minds about the decision. It was understandable. She wouldn't have liked to have been in his position. If anything did go wrong, he would face all kinds of criticism both from people inside and outside of WWE. But the fact was that she didn't want him to veto the idea. The finish that she had come up with was an excellent one, and would make the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match the memorable occasion that it definitely should be. All she could do was plead her case again.

"Please let me do this Hunter. It was my idea to take a big bump to end the match. I think it's really important for women's wrestling that we make this match memorable. We all know it's thanks to you that women are now finally getting the opportunities and recognition that we are, and we all appreciate it. I'm asking you to back us again. Back me, and we'll deliver a match that people will talk about for years to come. I promise we won't let you down, and we'll pull the finish off perfectly, right, Charlotte?"

Charlotte nodded. "She's right, Hunter, we won't let you down, and we won't screw it up. Please let us do this."

Hunter said nothing for a long moment. They had spoken well in trying to convince him. He was now imagining the finish in his head, picturing doing it himself from both Bayley's point of view and Charlotte's. In terms of execution, it wasn't actually complicated at all. It was only the distance of the fall and the subsequent impact that worried him. Then an idea came to mind. Yes, that would work.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen," he told them, leaning forward and resting his hands on the desk. His voice was firm and definitive as he laid out his modifications to their proposal. They both got the message loud and clear that it was either this or nothing. In any event, Bayley was perfectly happy with his suggestion.

"Okay, let's do that then," she agreed. "Thank you, Hunter. It means so much that you're willing to support us on this."

"Yes, it does," Charlotte added. "Thank you."

Bayley was already looking ahead to the match as the conversation continued. She couldn't wait to get out there now. It would be an experience that she would never forget.


	29. Chapter 29

Standing behind the curtain, waiting for her entrance music to hit, Bayley could feel the atmosphere in the arena. There was real electricity to it, the kind of electricity that was sadly quite rare for a women's match, even in this day and age. Charlotte would be in the ring by now, and the fans were giving her a more than generous ovation. Part of that was due to the fact that her face turn had been well received, but equally it was due to the fans relishing the prospect of Commissioner Martinez getting a serious ass kicking. So far, the intended divisive nature of the new character hadn't really come to fruition. Hatred was the almost universal response that she was getting. Hopefully that would change somewhat when the war between Raw and Smackdown really got started.

Charlotte's music faded out. Taking in a deep breath, Bayley closed her eyes for a moment and said a prayer, hoping to ensure that she would be walking back through the curtain uninjured in around twenty five minutes. The production team didn't play Bayley's entrance package right away, choosing to make the fans wait for it. Some of the fans began to chant Charlotte's name, which caused a further delay. The commentators would probably be talking about the champion making the challenger wait.

Looking down at the title belt around her waist, she couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness. Her first run had been a great honour, but it had only been a short one, which was a real shame. Her eyes then lingered for a moment on the Raw logo that had pride of place on the upper left side of her top. Her previous brightly coloured ring gear was a thing of the past. The new attire was all black, apart from the word Bayley in red lettering on one leg of her leggings and the Raw logo on the upper chest. It struck her that she felt a real sense of pride to be representing 'her' show in such a huge main event. Some aspects of living her character really were taking hold.

Eventually, her music hit, drawing a loud chorus of boos. She was starting to realise how Roman felt every night. Getting crapped on as soon as you walked through the curtain wasn't a pleasant experience. At least she was supposed to draw some kind of heat. It had to be worse for Roman, who was supposed to be a face.

* * *

"The crowd are all over Bayley Martinez," Cole said as Bayley made her way towards the cell.

"Hardly surprising," Saxton replied. "No one who treats people the way our commissioner does could possibly hope to be popular. Look at how she's dealt with the referees, for example. I think it's a tragedy to have people who have legitimate complaints about their pay and working conditions be subjected to the kind of violence that we've seen from Martinez's thugs. She should be ashamed of herself. I can see why some of the fans have described her as even more evil than Stephanie McMahon, and that's saying something."

"Could the two of you shut up?" Graves complained. "We're about to see our commissioner courageously defend her championship inside Hell in a Cell, which isn't fair by the way, and all you can talk about is some stupid referees? Give me a break. You should remember that Bayley is your boss too. She could come over right now and fire your asses if she chose to."

"I think she's got bigger things to worry about than us," Cole pointed out. Bayley had lingered for a moment outside the door to the cell, looking it up and down with a sense of trepidation. "Once she gets into the cell, there's going to be no escape from Charlotte, and there's going to be no interference either. It's time that we had a fair match for the Women's Championship, and that's exactly what we're going to get."

Taking her time, Bayley entered the cell and then climbed into the ring. Reluctantly, she handed her title belt over to the referee, then returned to her corner, and it was time for JoJo to make her announcements.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Hell in a Cell match, scheduled for one fall, and it is for the Raw Women's Championship."

The referee stepped forward and held the title belt in the air, showing it to the crowd.

"Introducing first, the challenger, from the Queen City, Charlotte!"

As her name was announced, Charlotte walked out of her corner and posed in the middle of the ring with her arms raised. That was when Bayley sprang into action, charging out of her corner and nailing her challenger in the back of the head with a forearm. Charlotte collapsed to the mat, and Bayley set about delivering rapid, stiff kicks to her stomach and chest.

"Oh, Bayley from behind!" Graves had called out. "Bayley now, taking it to Charlotte! Look at her go! We're underway in the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match!"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the match was running slightly over time, not that anyone really cared. It would just mean cutting out the some of fighting outside of the cell, after they broke out of it. So far, the fans had loved the back and forth contest, which had produced lots of spots involving the cell, as well as a number of near falls in the ring. 'This is awesome' had been chanted once already, before the most exciting part of the contest even happened.

When Charlotte hit the ropes, having had the upper hand for the previous minute or so, Bayley got in position for the counter that she knew she was supposed to make. Seemingly out of nowhere, she grabbed her rival tightly in a bear hug of sorts, then delivered her finishing move.

"Bayley to Belly! She hit it!" Graves called out. "Martinez into the cover!"

Some of the crowd booed as soon as the move was delivered, and hardly anyone joined in with the count. All they wanted was for Charlotte to kick out, which she did at the last moment before the referee could strike the mat for the third time. At the kick out, they cheered Charlotte on, willing her to come back into the match.

"A long two count," Cole said. "And look at Martinez now, she's not happy with that call. Maybe she should have one of our regular referees in there then, instead of a scab?"

"Are you still talking about that, Cole? What I'm trying to figure out is how Charlotte managed to kick out of the Bayley to Belly. No one ever does that!"

"Charlotte's using the ropes to pull herself to her feet," Saxton said.

Noticing this, Bayley abandoned her argument with the official and rushed back over to Charlotte. Grabbing her in the bear hug position again, the intention was clearly to deliver her finisher for the second time.

"Going for it again," Cole said.

But this time Charlotte headbutted the champion in the face, forcing her break the hold and sending her staggering around the ring with her hands clasped to her face. Still struggling from the finisher that she had taken, Charlotte also stumbled back against the turnbuckles, having to use the ropes to steady herself. Suddenly, taking everyone by surprise, she seemed to find a fresh burst of energy and sprinted at Bayley, nearly taking her head off with a Big Boot, which was now often her finishing move. The crowd exploded in surprise as much as delight, sensing that the match was over. They were wrong though, because as Bayley flew clean off her feet with the impact, she ended up underneath the bottom rope, lying on the ring apron. It was simple from there to roll over and drop to the floor, preventing a pin from happening.

"Oh, Martinez just got lucky there," Saxton said. "That Big Boot just nearly knocked her out cold, but she's ended up on the outside of the ring. Bad break for Charlotte."

As she lay on the floor, outside of kayfabe, Bayley knew that she had problem. She hadn't quite managed to block Charlotte's boot correctly, and it had partially made contact with her cheek. Now she could feel blood starting to trickle down her face. A small cut must have opened up. At least she had taken some of the force out of the kick with her hand, otherwise it really might have knocked her out. Charlotte always had been a stiff worker, and always would be.

Graves let out a horrified groan when the ringside cameraman got a good closeup of Bayley's face, seeing the blood on it.

"That Big Boot really did some damage to Martinez," Cole said, showing a lot less concern for the commissioner than his colleague. "Charlotte needs to get out there and take advantage."

Charlotte did exactly that, climbing out of the ring after her opponent. Upon seeing her, Bayley, who had now managed to sit up, began crawling backwards away from Charlotte, pleading for mercy. With a satisfied smile, Charlotte stalked her, intent on ending the match very quickly. Unfortunately, she was walking right into Bayley's trap. Once they were close enough, the champion executed a drop toehold, sending the challenger crashing forehead first into the ring steps.

"Oh! Charlotte could be knocked out from that," Saxton said. "Her forehead struck the steel flush there, and it struck it hard."

The reality was something else entirely of course, but the spot was a crucial one. Not only had the ring steps now been knocked over, which would become critical shortly, it was also where Charlotte was supposed to start 'bleeding'. Blading was strictly forbidden in WWE now, but using blood packs was allowed in rare circumstances. Thanks to Hunter, this was one of them. The camera shots were deliberately kept on Bayley for several moments while Charlotte went to work.

"Look at Charlotte!" Graves exclaimed when she was finally shown, with 'blood' running down her forehead. "Those steel steps busted her wide open!"

Now it was Bayley's turn to try and press home an advantage. Seeing the state that her rival was in as she used the cell to claw her way back to her feet, she picked up the top half of the ring steps. Using every ounce of strength she could muster, she launched the steps at Charlotte as hard as she could. The challenger reacted and dived out of the way, leaving the steps to crash into the cell, in exactly the predetermined place where the joints holding the steel together had been weakened. The impact of the steps tore the side of the cell open, although not quite as much as had been intended.

The crowd immediately started cheering when they saw the damage to the cell, wanting the two competitors to get outside. Having seen that the cell wasn't fully open, Bayley quickly whispered a call of a new spot into Charlotte's ear. Then, after hauling her to her feet, she grabbed her in the bear hug position again. This time there was to be no suplex though. Instead, Bayley just picked Charlotte up and ran at the side of the cell with her, using her an improvised battering ram. To add extra force to the impact, she jumped at the last second. The plan worked. Both women went crashing through the cell, ending up in a heap on the floor on the outside of the cell. As they had flown through, a couple of the loose ends of broken steel had torn nasty gashes in Charlotte's back. Both women would have war wounds to show off when they got backstage.

Knowing that they had to cut some of the fighting outside of the cell to save time, they made a quick job of Charlotte getting the advantage again, ending with her placing Bayley on top of one of the commentary tables. When that was done, she stood and regained her breath for a second, then looked up at the top of the cell. When the fans saw that, they roared their encouragement, perhaps imagining a moonsault off the top, or something equally insane. A 'Yes' chant broke out, then the crowd roared again as Charlotte started to climb the cell. However, she had only made it just over half way by the time Bayley rolled off of the table and began to climb the cell herself.

"Now what, Charlotte?" Cole asked. "Go back down and meet her, or carry on going up?"

"Please just get down," Saxton pleaded with her. "Someone could get seriously hurt up there. Is the Women's Championship really worth this much?"

"Of course it is!" Graves snapped at him. "I know Bayley Martinez wouldn't hesitate to toss Charlotte's ass off the top if it meant retaining her title."

Charlotte climbed up to the top of the cell, with Bayley following behind. This gave the champion a serious problem: With Charlotte ready and waiting on the top of cell, how could she get up herself without being knocked off?

Realising her advantageous position, Charlotte leaned over the side of the cell and took a swing at Bayley, trying to send her flying to the floor. After dodging the attempt, Bayley stuck a thumb in Charlotte's eye, a cheap but effective way to buy enough time to get on top of the cell herself.

Now Bayley's heart was pounding in her chest, and nerves were eating away at her stomach. The most dangerous stunt of her career to date, probably ever, was about to happen. There was a prearranged square tile of the cell's roof that had been weakened in the same way that the one in the side had been. Taking a moment to make sure she had her bearings correct, she dragged Charlotte over to the adjacent tile, then kicked her in the stomach.

"No!" Cole called out in horror. "Martinez is looking to powerbomb Charlotte through the cell! Don't do it!"

"Wait!" Graves yelled as Charlotte countered.

Everything went into slow motion for Bayley as she was lifted into the air. Firstly, she willed Charlotte to have given her enough lift on the back body drop to flip over properly, so that she would hit the ring back and legs first. Yes, she was in the correct position.

She hit the top of the cell, which offered barely any resistance, as planned.

Falling... Falling... She closed her eyes, dreading the impact and wondering how she had been stupid enough to suggest doing this.

The crowd were already screaming on horror. That was good at least.

Impact. A very hard impact. It drove the wind out of her, but it wasn't as bad as she had imagined it might have been. She kept her eyes closed, but only to remain in character. Now she was lying in a hole in the ring, which had given way. _Thank you, Hunter, for deciding to weaken the ring and put padding under it. Hopefully the canvas has managed to keep it hidden._

More horrified screaming from the crowd, followed by a 'Holy shit' chant. Just the reaction she had hoped for. Time to test all of her extremities. She didn't feel like she had been injured, but the body could deceive itself sometimes. No, everything still worked. She had survived the fall uninjured.

"Bayley, are you okay?" The referee, checking on her.

"Yes. I'm okay," she mumbled back, knowing that the absence of the dreaded X sign would be a huge relief to Seth who was watching in the back.

It seemed like it had only been a matter of seconds, but time was kind of blurred. Charlotte's foot on her chest. The three count. A cheer from the fans. The chance to lie there for a couple of minutes and her breath back while Charlotte celebrated. Still keeping her eyes closed, she paid no attention to the 'medical personnel' who entered the ring and pretended to be checking on her.

Only when Charlotte's music faded out did she open her eyes. The cell had been raised up into the roof now. The extras who were playing the medics had brought a stretcher into the ring and were about to try and lift her to put her on it. No, that wasn't going to happen. She wasn't going to leave on a stretcher.

Making sure to sell as best she could, she took her time to climb out of the hole in the ruined ring, shrugging off all attempts to help her. When she used the ropes to pull herself to her feet, everyone in the crowd began to applaud. It was then that she noticed that not a single one of them was sitting down, and nobody appeared to have left the building yet either. She was being given the standing ovation of all standing ovations. It was impossible stop her eyes filling with tears.

Slowly, she staggered over to the ropes, then dropped back down to the canvas and rolled under the bottom one. When she sat on the edge of ring apron, she saw a cameraman getting right in her face. He couldn't have timed it better, because that was when the crowd decided almost unilaterally to start chanting, "Thank you, Bayley!" Holding the tears back was a monumental effort, but somehow she manged it.

As she walked slowly up towards the stage a few moments later, with applause ringing in her ears, she remembered that her character wasn't supposed to be a heel. It was okay to acknowledge the support. Turning, she bowed her head slightly in appreciation, then applauded the whole arena, one side at a time. To finish, she pounded the Raw logo on her ring gear a couple of times, then turned and continued to the back.

Just before she reached the curtain, an entirely new chant broke out. "We are Raw!"

No one could see it now, so Bayley allowed herself to smile. The Raw fans had bonded with Commissioner Martinez for the first time, and they now seemed to be starting to feel the kind of patriotism for Raw that was needed for the upcoming war with Smackdown to be a success for WWE.

Tonight had been an incredible night. Battered, bruised, bloodied, she couldn't have felt better.


	30. Chapter 30

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm okay," Bayley assured Seth, for the second time. She had walked right into his arms as soon as she'd come back through the curtain, and that was when the tears had really started. They were tears of pride at what she and Charlotte had just achieved.

Seth felt the same level of pride. The match had exceeded his expectations, and everyone else's. Seeing Bayley falling through the cell and hitting the ring so hard was an experience that he wouldn't like to repeat ever again though. Waiting those few seconds for the referee to check on her, dreading seeing the X sign which would have meant that she had sustained an injury, had been among the worst moments of his life. But she hadn't gotten injured. The match was over, and it had been a fantastic success. It would be talked about for years to come, he felt sure. A small cut on the cheek which might require a couple of sutures was the only negative to come out of it. Frankly, considering some of the potential horrors that he'd imagined, he would settle for a cut cheek.

"I'm so proud of you, angel," he whispered into her ear. They words were for her alone to hear. "You did such an amazing job, I was tearing up back here at the fan's reaction. I love you so much."

"Thank you, baby. I love you too," Bayley replied, hugging him tightly.

Mindful that there were other people waiting to speak to Bayley, Seth let her go. Charlotte was next to hug her.

"I'm sorry I hit you with that kick. Your cheek looks a mess."

"There's nothing to apologise for. It was my fault, I didn't block it properly. Thank you for that match, Char. I'll never forget it as long as I live."

"No, thank you," Charlotte insisted. "Thank you for the best match of my career. I love you."

"I love you too, girl."

Sasha came next, congratulating both women on a fantastic main event. Then it was Hunter's turn. He put an arm around each of the two war-weary competitors and hugged them like a proud father would do. In some ways, that was exactly how he felt. Bayley had noticed that his eyes were damp too. Moving the boss almost to tears really told her just how special the match had been.

"I'm so proud of both of you," he told them. "That match will go down in history for sure. It was incredible. _You_ are incredible."

"Thank you, Hunter," Bayley said, wiping more tears away from her eyes.

"That's a great picture," Seth said, as much to himself as to anyone else. He had just used his phone to capture the moment. Hunter hugging Bayley and Charlotte, all three of them with tears in their eyes. It just had to be put out by WWE on social media.

The hug broke up and Hunter held out his hand for Seth's phone, wanting to see the picture. Seth passed the phone over, and Hunter smiled at what he saw. "Send that to me, will you?"

"You got it."

Hunter turned back to Charlotte and Bayley. "Okay, let's get that short segment with the two of you hugging in the locker room filmed, then we can have the medical team check you out. You've both got cuts that need taking care of. Charlotte, I want you to do something else as well before you leave. Come find me after you've seen the doctor, okay?"

"Will do," Charlotte acknowledged, wondering what he had in mind.

* * *

Bayley was shown sitting on a steel chair in her locker room, looking down at the floor, still bleeding from her cut cheek. She appeared downcast, beaten.

"You gave it everything you had. There's no shame in losing to Charlotte right now," Seth consoled her. He was sitting beside her, leaning forward with his arms resting on his legs, propping his head. "The girl is running white hot right now. Maybe it's time to let it go. You have Raw to run, and..."

His voice trailed off because Charlotte had walked into the shot and stood in front of Bayley. She had the Women's Championship belt over her shoulder. Dried blood stained her back from the gashes that the cell had caused.

Looking up her victor, Bayley let out an exhausted-sounding sigh, then slowly got to her feet. The two women stood there, staring eye to eye for a moment. Seth looked ready to spring into action to pull them apart at any second.

"It's over," Charlotte said eventually.

Bayley waited a further moment before giving a single nod of agreement. "Yeah, it's over."

Charlotte extended her hand in a sign of respect, clearly believing that it was deserved after the war that they had been through.

Looking down, Bayley studied the hand for a few seconds, then shook it. Then, with great respect of her own, she pulled the new champion gently into a hug. They stood there for a few seconds, sharing the unexpected moment.

When they separated, Charlotte gave a final nod of acknowledgement and left. The defeated Bayley slumped back down onto the chair, and Seth handed her a towel to wipe the blood from her cheek.

"That's Raw, right there," she told him quietly, proudly.

* * *

Establishing routines is human nature. Seth and Bayley's night time routine was that he would always be first use the bathroom before bed, and would then be waiting in bed for her by the time she was done. On this occasion, she yawned as she walked back into the hotel room and around to her side of the bed. "I'm ready for this sleep, baby. I'm so tired, and I ache all over."

Seth was lying with one arm planted into his pillow, propping his head up. "I'm not surprised after that match. Your cheek still looks sore too."

WWE's doctor had fixed the cut that Charlotte's boot had caused with a couple of sutures, promising that it wouldn't leave a scar. For a few days though, it was going to be awkward to live with.

"Yeah, it is," she confirmed as she got into bed. After giving Seth a quick kiss on the lips, she added, "Don't worry though, I'll be fine."

"I know." Seth reached across to brush a few strands of hair away from her face. It was a curiously tender habit that he didn't even realise he'd developed.

Bayley let out a big sigh, savoring the comfort of the bed after the night she'd had. "Thank you for being so supportive of me with that match, Seth. I couldn't have done it without you."

"I don't know why you think that."

"Because it's true. A month or two ago, I wouldn't have had the courage to even suggest that finish to Hunter. You've helped me so much with that kind of thing."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Seth said. He had to pause to yawn before he could go on. "You really made a name for yourself tonight, and it's thoroughly deserved. People need to recognise that you are one of, if not the most talented female wrestler out there. I am biased though of course," he added as a joke.

Seth turned around, trying to get comfortable, and Bayley settled into her usual position, with her arm wrapped around his stomach. Lying like that with him had always comforted her, ever since that first night when she had been so heartbroken about her heel turn that she had climbed into bed with him just to seek that comfort. Now it was something that they were both used to.

"Baby?" she asked quietly after a minute.

"What?" Seth replied sleepily.

"Have you ever played golf?"

Seth laughed at the randomness of the question, but decided to just answer it. "Yeah, I've played it. I like it. I suck though; no time to ever practice."

"I know what you mean."

"Why did you ask?"

Bayley hesitated for a moment. "I was texting with my dad earlier, about when we go home so you can meet my parents. My mom and dad both play, so he asked if you might like a round of golf rather than just sitting in their house for a few hours."

"Sure, we can do that." Seth had agreed, even though his golf game really did suck. If Bayley's parents wanted to host them for a round of golf though, he would go along with it - good impressions and all that. Besides, he actually did enjoy the game, even though he was no good at it.

"Great. I can't wait," Bayley said. Then: "Night, baby."

"Good night, angel." A couple of minutes later, Seth was drifting off to sleep when he heard his name again.

"Seth?"

"What?" It was hard not to sound irritable, but he managed it, just.

"I don't know what they're planning for me now. In the ring, I mean. I'm Commissioner Martinez, obviously, but I've heard nothing about a rivalry with anyone. I know Charlotte has Dana, and Sasha's going to have Nikki when we draft her, but there's been nothing said about where I go from here."

Seth gave the hand that was resting on his stomach a reassuring squeeze. "You saw Hunter tonight. He couldn't have been happier or more impressed with your match. He'll have something lined up for you for sure. I'd make a bet that we'll find out tomorrow."

A minute later, he was asleep.

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Hunter?" Bayley asked as she walked into his office. The door had been left open. She saw that Charlotte was already in the office. "Hey, Char. How's the back?"

"I'll survive, Bay," Charlotte smiled. "Your cheek looks a lot better already."

"Just a couple of things, Bayley," Hunter said. To start, he gestured towards the flat screen TV on the wall. Something was on the screen already, paused, cued up to play. "First of all, I wanted you both to see this. Charlotte already knows what it is, as we filmed her part in it after the show last night, but she's not seen the finished product. Both of you have the night off from wrestling tonight, and it's well deserved. This is going to be used on the show to recap your match last night. I think you'll both love it."

Bayley wondered what Hunter had gotten Charlotte to film after the show. Clearly he was proud of it, whatever it was. The piece began with their match card from Hell in a Cell on the screen, with a voice-over from Michael Cole.

"Last night at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, we witnessed a match that will go in WWE history. Charlotte met Bayley inside Hell in a Cell for the Raw Women's Championship. After the show, I sat down with the new champion and asked her what it was like."

When the video sequence started, Bayley was taken by surprise by the nature of it. Contrary to the usual style of WWE's promos, the music in this one was ethereal, haunting almost. If she had recognised it, she would have known it was a Brian Eno piece titled An Ending. Rather than having snippets of commentary inserted into the sequence, there was simply the music, as shots of Charlotte and then Bayley walking to the ring were shown. Then the first part of Charlotte's interview played, being used as a voice-over. She was speaking slowly, voice full of genuine emotion as she answered the question that Cole had alluded to in his introduction.

"Well, it was two of the best female wrestlers in the world, competing inside Hell in a Cell, for the Raw Women's Championship, so what do you think it was like?"

Now the shots moved on to showing some of the action from the match, beginning with the way Bayley had started the match with the attack from behind. After a lengthy pause, Charlotte's answer to her own question came.

"It was fantastic. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful."

Hearing the emotion in Charlotte's voice combined with the music brought tears to Bayley's eyes then, and she realised that she had goosebumps on her arms too. Glancing over, Charlotte saw that her friend was tearing up, so she put an arm around her shoulders. Keeping her own eyes dry was proving to be difficult.

After some more highlights from the match, the promo took a turn that surprised Bayley again. Still speaking in the same manner as before, the next thing Charlotte said was: "What it makes me feel though, is sad."

More highlights.

"I just have the horrible feeling right now that thanks to many things; the desire to keep WWE PG; the relentless battle against overly-cautious health and safety regulations; criticism from people who have no idea what they're talking about, that matches like that will soon be consigned to the history books."

Now Bayley's fall from the top of the cell was shown from multiple angles.

"I can't help thinking that the match that Bayley Martinez and I had tonight... was an ending."

The sequence came to a close, showing Charlotte getting the three count and then celebrating with the title belt, before both the picture and the music faded out. By that point, Bayley had tears streaming down her face.

"I take it you liked it," Hunter said softly, not letting on that he had goosebumps of his own, as he had every other time he'd watched the video. The production guys really had done a great job with this one.

"I love it," Bayley managed to choke out. "But is it true, was it an ending?"

"Absolutely not," Hunter told her as he handed her a tissue to dry her eyes with. "But that doesn't mean we can't have people thinking that it is for a while. I think it's safe to assume that we'll get a reaction from the audience with this one."

"I can't imagine there will be a dry eye in the house." Bayley wiped away her tears and gave a heavy sigh, trying to compose herself.

"I think that's my favourite promo out of anything I've ever done," Charlotte said reflectively. "Thank you, Hunter. It really was a great idea to have me sit down with Cole that soon after the match."

"You're welcome, Charlotte. Could you give me a minute with Bayley now, please?"

"Sure. I'll catch up to you later, Bay." The new champion left the office and closed the door behind her.

"Hunter, there was something I wanted to ask you," Bayley said, pleasingly not sounding as hesitant as she felt.

"Oh?"

"I've, uh, not heard anything about any plans for who I'm going to be wrestling next. I know I have the role as Commissioner Martinez to play, but you promised me I'd still be wrestling often, even if it wasn't every week."

"And you will," Hunter said, with a smile that intrigued Bayley. It looked like the kind of smile that someone had when they knew something that you didn't. "Obviously you know about the story we started on the website last week about both Raw and Smackdown competing to sign a big star to their brands."

"Right," Bayley nodded. "I was going to ask you about that too. It was said that both Shane and I had the opportunity to make an offer to the superstar in question, and it would be up to them to choose. The contract signing is my segment on the show tonight. I know Shane is here for it. It will be good to work with him in the ring for the first time. But, what I don't know is who we're actually talking about. Who is the big signing? Everyone's been talking about all kinds of people online; CM Punk; The Rock; Goldberg. I've seen loads of names mentioned. You've managed to keep it from leaking out, whoever it is."

"Yes, we have," Hunter said, with a chuckle. "Come on, I want you to come meet someone."

Bayley didn't make the connection between her question about who she was going to be working with and the fact that Hunter had chosen to talk about the new signing rather than directly answering her, she was too intrigued as to who it was going to be. With Hunter leading the way, they walked the short distance along the hallway to Vince McMahon's office. Hunter put his hand on the door handle, but didn't open the door yet.

"Bayley, what we've done is, we've worked out a deal for you to wrestle someone at the Royal Rumble. I think you're going to like the idea. I want you to meet Raw's new signing." With that, he opened the door and walked into the office.

When she followed him in and saw who he was talking about, Bayley let out a quiet gasp of surprise.

Shane McMahon was standing closest to the door, and he turned around to greet the new arrivals, shaking hands with Hunter and then offering his hand to Bayley. "Good to see you, Bayley. I'm looking forward to working with you out there, and on Smackdown next week too. You'll get quite the reception from the fans that night, I'm sure."

"I'm sure," Bayley replied, taking his hand. The appearance on Smackdown was something that she was looking forward to, even with the hostile reaction that she was sure to get after the comments that her character had been making about the opposing brand, their roster, and their fans. Public enemy number one probably didn't even cut it at this point. Oddly, she felt fine with being hated by Smackdown's fans. It was a 'them and us' situation now. The opposition hating you showed that you were doing a good job. It was moments like that when kayfabe and reality got a little blurred. There was something a lot more immediate to think about though, because her Royal Rumble opponent stepped forward and offered her hand, with an accompanying smile.

"Hey, Bayley. I'm looking forward to wrestling you. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Bayley took the hand and tried not to sound nervous at the prospect of the match when she replied. "It's nice to meet you, Ronda."


	31. Chapter 31

When Raw returned from its final commercial break of the night, the ring had been transformed, ready for the segment that had everyone intrigued. Red carpet had been laid out on the canvas, and a table covered with black cloth had pride of place in the middle of the ring. Two black document holders sat on the table, one bearing the Raw logo and the other bearing that of Smackdown. Three microphones were also ready and waiting.

"Welcome back to Monday Night Raw," Cole said on commentary. "We're in a rather unusual situation here tonight. Coming up next, we're about to find out that either Raw or Smackdown have made what has been described as 'a blockbuster signing'. The problem? We have no idea who it is."

"That's right," Saxton joined in. "It's my understanding that only our commissioner, Bayley Martinez, and Shane McMahon, who is commissioner of Smackdown actually know who the person we're talking about is."

At that moment, Bayley's music hit, being greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos. It was a turn towards the positive at least, thanks to the previous night's Hell in a Cell match.

"Whoever it is, I don't doubt for a second that Commissioner Martinez has been able to convince them to sign for Raw over Smackdown," Graves said as she made her way to the ring. "I mean, what could Smackdown possibly offer that Raw can't? We're the premier wrestling show in the world, everyone knows that. And I'd back Bayley to out-negotiate Shane McMahon every day of the week. That's what you get from a true leader like ours. I'm proud to call Bayley Martinez our commissioner."

Saxton made a groaning sound that made it seem like he was on the verge of being sick.

"I certainly can't agree with all of those statements, but I absolutely agree that Raw makes a better proposition for a new signing than Smackdown does," Cole replied.

Bayley picked up one of the microphones from the table, and her music faded out. She talked right over the top of the portion of the crowd who were trying to jeer her. "This past week, a rather extraordinary opportunity was given to both Raw and Smackdown, by the Chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon. I was invited to Stamford to meet with a potential new signing, and to make them a contract offer. Commissioner Shane McMahon was also there to represent Smackdown."

Pausing, she made no secret of her pleasure at the fact that Shane's name received some boos, even though they were quite tame. "I sat down with the superstar in question for half an hour and we had a very productive meeting. I made an offer that I think would be very hard to turn down. However, Shane also had the chance to hold a meeting and make an offer of his own. I then had the opportunity to speak with Vince McMahon, and I was able to make a deal to have the superstar on Raw tonight, so that we can find out which offer they have chosen to accept. A condition of that deal was that I had to invite Shane McMahon to be here also, so, please welcome Commissioner Shane McMahon."

Her introduction fell just the right side of diplomatically polite, but only just. Some of the fans booed when Shane's music hit, but a larger number cheered. Shane's popularity wasn't going to go away that easily, with no real animosity yet between the two brands. While he made his way to the ring, the commentators had a disagreement about whether Bayley had been magnanimous to invite Shane to Raw, or whether she had been bordering on disrespectful with the way she had spoken about him. Cole apparently felt that her diplomacy could use some work.

"Thank you," Shane began, acknowledging those members of the audience who were cheering his presence in the ring, or at least respectfully applauding it. "And thank you, Commissioner Martinez, for inviting me to Raw tonight. Allow me to also congratulate you on the Hell in a Cell match that you had with Charlotte last night. I know a thing or two about coming off the top of that thing myself."

More applause from the fans. It was exactly clear who it was aimed it. Bayley chose to think that it was for both of them. However, she had to come back with something in character. "Thank you. It was my honour to be a part of the biggest main event since the brand split. We certainly raised the bar, so it will be interesting to see how you plan to have Smackdown rise to the occasion."

There were a few cheers and some laughter at the snide comments, but Shane let them pass him by, deciding to be the bigger man and not fire back at her in kind. "Before we get into this contract signing, I have an invitation of my own for you, Bayley."

"Commissioner Martinez, if you don't mind," she corrected him. "Let's at least conduct ourselves with the proper amount of respect, shall we?"

"Okay," Shane shrugged. "Commissioner Martinez, Daniel Bryan and I would like to invite you and your general manager Mick Foley to Smackdown next week. I propose that the four of us sit down and discuss the possibility of trading some superstars between our brands."

"Trading superstars?" Bayley asked with a skeptical raised eyebrow. After thinking about it for a moment, she went on. "You assume there are superstars on Smackdown that I would want to acquire for Raw. Very well, Commissioner McMahon, I thank you for your offer, and I accept it. Mick Foley and I will be on Smackdown next week."

"The idea of our Commissioner appearing on their show offends me," Graves mumbled.

"Excellent," Shane said, looking pleased with himself. "Alright, why don't we get into this contract signing? I'd like to introduce..."

"Uh, I'll handle the introductions on my show, thank you very much," Bayley cut in, snapping at him, which drew some boos from the crowd. "What are you booing me for?" she demanded, rounding on the fans. "You're at Raw! Start acting like it!" The outburst drew a loud reaction. There were more boos, but also some cheers of support. General uproar was how Bayley would have described it. At least she was getting a reaction. The worst thing a storyline or character could get was apathy. Vince McMahon had wanted a divisive character, and now he seemed to be getting his wish.

"It sounds to me like Charlotte's not the only one who wants to kick you in the face, Madam Commissioner," Shane said sarcastically, causing even more uproar.

"Enough! Let's get on with the contract signing. I can't wait to see your face when I get the signature on this Raw contract right here. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the superstar who I am confident will be my first signing as Raw's commissioner."

A suitable pause was left to build that final bit of anticipation, before Bad Reputation by Joan Jett began to play, along with a video package that WWE had put together for Ronda. The crowd went into meltdown as soon as they saw her face on the screen.

"Oh, it's Ronda Rousey!" Cole yelled. "Ronda Rousey is here in WWE, and she's on Monday Night Raw!"

Saxton went on to outline some of Ronda's past achievements for any viewers that might have been unaware, then Graves said, "There's no way Martinez can let Smackdown sign Ronda Rousey. That would be a disaster for Raw."

Ronda got in the ring and shook Bayley's offered hand, followed by Shane's, while the fans enthusiastically chanted her name. Then she picked up the last remaining microphone, but Bayley got in before she could say anything.

"Ronda, welcome to Monday Night Raw. As you can tell by the welcome you just received, Raw's fans are just as keen for you to sign for us as I am." Finally, the thing that Bayley had been hoping for the whole time began to happen. Some fans had started to repeat the 'we are Raw' chant from the previous night. She stopped talking, which in itself encouraged them to chant louder. Ronda played along too, looking out towards the fans who were chanting.

"Don't let that sway you, Ronda," Shane advised. "You would get a reaction at least as big as that from a Smackdown audience, and if you choose to join us, you will be signing for a brand where opportunities are given equally to all. You will be signing for a brand that isn't ruled by tyranny and corruption, as Raw undoubtedly is. Look at Commissioner Martinez's policies in just the few weeks that she's been in office. It's obvious that all she's really about is lining her own pockets, and those of the few cronies who choose to align themselves with her. Why would you want to be part of a show that's run that way?"

"Don't listen to him, Ronda," Bayley said, giving Shane a similar glare to the one that was now a famous meme. "The problem with Smackdown's policies is simple; they don't work. You cannot create wealth and opportunity by trying to appease everyone on the roster. The way to make a better show is to have the best wrestlers performing in the best matches, which attracts a larger audience, brings in more money, and as a result of that increase in revenue, everyone on the roster is better off in time. This is pretty basic economic theory that I shouldn't have to explain..."

Bayley's wittering on about economic policy was interrupted by the fans, who could tell that it wasn't impressing Ronda at all. They had decided to try and handle the sales pitch themselves with a chant of 'sign for Raw'. Pretty soon, every single fan in the building seemed to be joining in. Ronda hadn't even been given the chance to say or do anything yet.

"You hear that, Ronda?" Bayley went on, really building up the rhetoric now as she pointed at the crowd. "You hear those people? Do the right thing, Ronda. Give the people what they want!"

At that, Ronda sprang into action. Before Bayley could react, she was kicked in the stomach and then powerbombed through the table, sending the contracts flying into the air before landing on the carpet. The reaction from the fans was hard to decipher again. Some where cheering the fact that the overbearing, annoying commissioner had been put well and truly in her place, but others were booing at what seemed like the obvious conclusion to draw from Ronda's actions. Making the same conclusion, Shane smiled broadly.

"Oh no!" Graves had cried out as the move had been delivered. "Ronda Rousey has signed for Smackdown! How could she? This is the worst thing that could have happened to Monday Night Raw."

"I think shutting you the hell up is what the people want," Ronda said, glaring at the destroyed remains of Bayley and the table. The crowd cheered almost unanimously at that. Ronda bent down and picked up the document holder with the Smackdown logo on it, and the fans booed loudly.

"Don't do it, Ronda," Saxton pleaded.

Instead of opening the document holder, Ronda held it out to Shane. "Thank you for your generous offer, Shane, but I have to reject it. I'm going to sign for Raw."

"Yes!" Cole yelled as the fans went wild again. "Ronda Rousey is going to sign for Raw! What a coup this is!"

Shane appeared to be trying to swallow the bitter pill as gracefully as he could. "I'm very sorry to hear that, Ronda. Could I just ask what convinced you to choose Raw over Smackdown. I'd like to know where I went wrong at least."

"Honestly, you didn't go wrong. I watch both shows every week, and I really like what you guys are doing over there. You pitched yourself to me just as well as Martinez did, and the truth of it is that I was actually thinking that I was going to sign for you. But then I got a call from Mick Foley, who made me a very interesting offer that I just couldn't say no to."

"What offer was that?"

A smile came to Ronda's face, then she bent down against and picked up Raw's document holder. She opened it up and took out the gold pen that had been secured on the inside. "Mick told me that all I have to do is sign this contract, and I can have a match with Bayley Martinez at the Royal Rumble." Gesturing at the fallen commissioner, who was still unconscious, she added, "The chance to give her the kind of ass kicking she really needs was too much for me to pass up. So, Bayley, yes, I will sign for your show, but when we get to the Royal Rumble, you're going to wish I hadn't."

That was the best of both worlds as far as the fans were concerned, which was why they celebrated enthusiastically as Ronda's music hit and Raw quickly went off the air.

* * *

"That went well," Bayley said with an excited smile. She was the last to walk back through the curtain, thanks to having to sell her injuries to the live audience in the arena.

"I loved it!" Ronda replied, with a smile of her own. "I hope I did that powerbomb okay?"

"I'll live, just," Bayley quipped, making it obvious that she was joking.

Seth, Shane and Hunter were there too, and everyone had a good chuckle at that.

"Until the Rumble at least," Ronda reminded her, drawing more laughter.

"Alright guys," Hunter said to get everyone's attention. "Bayley, Ronda's going to be doing some training sessions with our guys down in Florida before the Rumble, so you don't have to worry about her killing you." There was genuine humour in his voice.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Ronda said, grinning.

"Not getting killed would definitely be a bonus," Bayley said.

Moving on from the joking, Hunter went on to make a more serious point. "We've also worked out a deal whereby we can have Ronda appear on a set number of shows between now and the Rumble in order to build the match. Obviously we'll all talk about that closer to the time. For right now though, I have to say that I think we're really onto a winner here."

"Is it just one match then, Ronda?" Shane had to ask. He was only working for WWE in an on-screen role, so he was privy to whatever discussions had taken place between Ronda, UFC and WWE.

"Right now it is, yeah. I've got the fight in December. After I win that, we'll see where we go from there."

Bayley found more than one part of that very interesting. Most notable was the self-confidence that Ronda had regarding her fight. She appeared to be in no doubt at all about her ability to win. If only she had that same confidence, her life would be so much easier, she thought. Then there was the last thing Ronda had said. 'We'll see where we go from there' seemed to imply that there was a real possibility of a longer term deal being agreed. There had been rumors about Ronda turning her talents to wrestling after she was done with UFC, but there had never been anything that close to a confirmation before. It was very exciting for Bayley, who was a fan of Ronda, and it was also a fantastic prospect for Raw.

They chatted for another couple of minutes, talking about the fact that Asuka was going to be called up to Smackdown to try and offset Raw's victory in the contract signing, before Seth and Bayley headed for their locker room, and the others made their way back to Vince's office. The truth of it was that Bayley was a little nervous about working a match with Ronda. Even in the segment they had just finished, the kick to the stomach before the powerbomb had been a stiff one to say the least. Of course there was no intent on Ronda's part to cause injury, she just wasn't used to how to hit people without hitting them hard. Hopefully a few training sessions would help with that, or the Royal Rumble could prove be a very rough night, she thought.

"I told you Hunter would have something for you," Seth said as they walked along the hallway. "And boy did he have something for you. If ever you needed confirmation that they're going to keep pushing you, giving you a match with Ronda is it. You guys will tear the house down at the Rumble. I can't wait to see it myself. Your matches are some of the best things about Raw right now."

Bayley looked at him and smiled sweetly. "Thank you, baby. You always say the nicest things to me. My matches won't be the most exciting thing after next week though, when Dean shows up. People are going to go insane over The Shield being back together."

"I can't wait for that, I must admit. I haven't even seen Dean for ages. And as for The Shield, well, what can I say? I've missed it since the day we ended it."

They reached their locker room, and as soon as they were inside, Seth removed his T-shirt to start changing back into his more formal attire, which was required whenever he and Bayley stood a high likelihood of being seen together by the fans. It was something that they were both used to by now. As she watched him, studying his incredible physique, Bayley felt herself getting turned on. If only they were back at the hotel, she thought longingly. Having sex in the locker room wasn't her style at all. To her surprise, Seth turned around and caught her looking.

"I see you, Commissioner Martinez," he told her, having noticed the look in her eyes.

"I'm doing nothing wrong, Mr Rollins," she replied, liking the fact that he had used the name of her character.

Seth walked over to her and stood close to her. "Yes, you are. You're doing something very wrong."

"What's that?"

"You're not kissing me."

Emotions took over then, and within seconds they were kissing and touching each other with combination of passion, intensity and tenderness that only couples who truly love each other are capable of.


	32. Chapter 32

"Good news," Seth announced after putting his phone back in his pocket. He and Bayley were in San Jose, having flown out there that morning. Bayley was now driving them to the golf course where the meet up with her parents had been arranged. Partly to take his mind off of his nerves, Seth had called the contractor who they had hired to work on their house for an update on how the work was going.

"They're making good progress?" Bayley asked, keeping her eyes on the traffic.

"Yeah. The living room ceiling is done, the bedroom ceiling is done, and the walls have been stripped back to the brickwork. They've got the fans and heaters on them now to dry them out. They're starting work on the kitchen this afternoon. By the time we go home next week, they French doors will be in. The electrician was there yesterday to start on the rewiring too. The plumbing is being looked at next week. It's all starting to come together, babe."

"Yeah, the only ones who aren't working on it is us." Bayley felt surprisingly down about that, and part of her even regretted that they had flown out to see her parents. It felt like they had made plans to work on their dream home, and yet everyone else was doing it for them.

"But we will. Once those major jobs are done, we won't need contractors for much anymore. We need to make a decision on replacing the staircase, but when that's been done, I don't think we will need to get anyone else in. All of the decorating and finishing touches will be ours to work on. And besides, in three or four weeks, after the plumbing and electrics are all taken care of, and the living room and bedroom are dried out and replastered, we can move in. Oh, we need to get someone to come and sort out the lawns too, but that's probably the last job of all."

Bayley glanced over at him, and as always he found himself thinking that her smile looked stunning. "I can't wait to move in, baby. Then it really will be our home. What are we going to do for furniture though? We have nothing to sleep on or sit on."

"You're right," Seth nodded. "I already thought about that. I think what we should do is buy a couple of cheap chairs and a table for the living room. Then we can buy some decent furniture when the work is a lot closer to being finished. The only thing we really need to buy is a decent bed and mattress to sleep on. We can always move that from room to room upstairs as we work. Of course, if you're not comfortable with living like that, we can carry on booking into that hotel when we're up there. Please just say if you're not..."

"I'm fine with it, Seth, honestly. The house will have heating, running water for washing and showering, and we have a coffee machine. And most of all, you'll be there. What else could I want?"

Seth's heart melted at that. Leaning over, he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "I love you, angel."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they were walking out of the Pro Shop at the golf course with two sets of rented clubs. Bayley had also purchased a white cap to complete her outfit, which Seth found made her look incredibly cute. It was lucky that she was wearing pants rather than a short skirt, or he would have had no hope of concentrating on the round at all. They were still quite early for their tee time, but Bayley saw her parent's car reversing into an empty space in the lot.

"They're here," she told Seth, her excitement bubbling to the surface as she pointed to their car.

Seth took in a deep breath, not sure what to expect from the next few minutes, despite the many assurances Bayley had given him that everything would be fine. He watched the Audi saloon car pull neatly into the space, then got his first sight of Bayley's parents as they got out and fetched their clubs from the trunk. They were both obviously Hispanic, which he had expected. Even at that distance, he could tell how much Bayley looked like her mom. The resemblance was uncanny, apart from the obvious age difference.

"Wow, babe, you look so much like your mom."

"Everyone says that," Bayley giggled.

Her father was a lot shorter than Seth, five feet eight at most, he guessed. He had a kind looking face and a well maintained beard. Their clothes and the car they drove told Seth that were probably about as well off as his own parents. Good, hard working people was his first impression. And they had obviously done a great job raising their daughter.

"Hi mom. Hi Dad." Bayley walked forward when her parents approached, and hugged each of them in turn. "It's been so long since I saw you. I've missed you."

"We missed you too, honey," her father replied as she hugged him. Then he approached Seth and smiled.

That was a good start at least, as far as Seth was concerned. "Nice to meet you. I'm Seth." He offered his hand, which was taken in a surprisingly firm grasp.

"Diego. Good to meet you, Seth. This is my wife, Lucia."

"Hi," Seth smiled as Lucia walked towards him. He was surprised when she hugged him, but he soon realised that he shouldn't have been. Bayley had to have gotten her love of hugging from somewhere, after all.

"Hello Seth. We like hugs in this family."

"Now that I already knew," Seth grinned, feeling pleasantly at ease. His worst fears about the first encounter were receding fast.

"Let's go rent some trolleys, then we can go up to the first tee," Diego said, checking his watch. "We're a little early, but we can wait around there until we're up."

Everyone followed him into the Pro Shop. Seth hadn't thought about getting a trolley, which annoyed him. How had he expected Bayley to carry a set of clubs around for four or five hours? Was that going to be the first black mark against his name as far as her parents were concerned? He hoped not. While Diego talked to one of the members of staff, he walked up to Bayley and kept his voice hushed so that only she could hear him.

"I'm sorry I didn't get a trolley for you, babe. I didn't think about it."

Bayley just grinned at him. "They have female caddies on tour, Seth. I'm plenty capable of carrying my clubs. Dad likes to do things his way though, so we'll get a trolley."

A few minutes later, they were standing near the first tee, waiting for their allotted time.

"So, what have you been doing with yourself the last few weeks?" Lucia asked Bayley. "Apart from the obvious, I mean," she added with a mischievous grin that made her daughter's cheeks turn as red as a strawberry.

By prior agreement, neither Seth or Bayley were going to mention was going to be made of the fact that they had purchased a house together. There was potential for that to be taken the wrong way, so they wouldn't bring it up. Finding ways to talk about things without actually telling any lies might be a little tricky, but it was a necessary evil. They planned to announce the purchase of the house at a later date, when their relationship had been going longer and when the house was in a better condition so that her parents could come out and visit them there.

"We've been on the road a lot," Bayley replied. "You know what our jobs are like. We went to Iowa and I met Seth's parents. We would have liked to come back here earlier to see you too, but we were quite close to where they live, so it was easy to stop by their place." None of that was untrue, it was just a bit economical.

"Well, you're doing a great job right now, sweetheart," Diego said. "You play your new character to well, and your matches have been out of this world. You scared us to death falling off that cage like that though."

"I'm sorry, dad. But you remember what I told you before, right? If you don't see the referee do this, you know I'm okay." She had demonstrated the infamous X signal that referees used to signal a genuine injury to a wrestler. "And I called you as soon as I could afterwards too."

"We know," Lucia said. "Seeing your baby girl fall like that though... You'll put us in an early grave. Were you okay with it, Seth?"

The question had been posed casually enough, but Seth recognised a test when he heard one. "Yes, I was okay with it. Of course I was worried that Bayley might get hurt, but the thing about WWE is we have the best people in the world. They worked to make the cell and the ring as safe as they could for that spot, and most of all? I trusted Bayley, and I trusted Charlotte. They are both fantastic wrestlers. That's why Hunter let them do what they wanted to do out there. So, yeah, I was okay with it. Not thrilled about it, but okay with it."

"I was nervous about it myself, mom," Bayley said, taking Seth's hand. "But Seth gave me the support and the confidence I needed to do it. He was there when I needed him."

Diego had listened to the exchange in silence, but he nodded his head in appreciation at the last part, a fact that didn't escape Seth. He had just earned himself some respect with her parents.

"Alright, that's about time," Diego said a couple of minutes later, and they walked onto the tee.

The men's tee is further back that the women's, so the two men were going to be the first two to play their shots. When Diego hammered his ball about 300 yards down the middle of the fairway, Seth knew he was in trouble. He was playing with good golfers, and his game sucked. This round was going to be embarrassing and frustrating. It was then that he became determined not to try and post a good score - that wasn't going to happen - but to concentrate on making a good impression instead by not letting his emotions effect everyone else's enjoyment. Sure enough, his own drive hooked left into the rough, only about 200 yards away. He had the power to hit the ball far of course, but he lacked the technique to pull it off. Picking up his tee, he set off on what was going to prove to be a very long round.

* * *

It had turned out that even Bayley had a good golf game, even though she was rusty from lack of practice. Seth had been left as the only one who truly sucked, and he hadn't managed to make par on a single hole. Diego was the best of the bunch, and had enjoyed a very good round. At times, Bayley had given Seth words of encouragement, trying her best to help. Somehow, and he didn't quite know how, he had managed to suck up his anger and frustration the whole time, and had gotten through it without a single outburst. It had been a frankly herculean effort.

When the clubs and trolleys had been returned to the Pro Shop, they decided to have something to eat in the nearby restaurant before going back to Diego and Lucia's house for the evening. Both women headed to the bathroom as soon as they had selected a table, so Seth was left with Diego. At least they had gotten all of the 'get to know you' conversations out of they way on their way around the course.

"Well done, Seth," Diego said as he relaxed into the comfortable chair.

Seth raised his eyebrows. "Well done? I was terrible, man."

"You were worse than that," Diego said, smiling. "And you were pissed off with your game too, but you did your absolute best not to let on, so that you wouldn't spoil everyone else's enjoyment. So like I said, well done. You seem like a genuinely nice guy, and I know Bayley wouldn't date anyone who wasn't. All I have to say to you is this: Do not ever hurt my daughter, or you and I will have big problems. I honestly don't think you will though."

"You're right, I won't," Seth promised him. "Trust me, I know what a lucky guy I am to be with Bayley, and I'm doing my best to deserve it."

"Judging by how happy she obviously is right now, I'd say you're deserving it just fine. Now let me buy you a beer."

Seth hated beer, but realising the meaning behind the offer, he accepted, and told himself to do his best to enjoy drinking it when it arrived. The worst part of a new relationship was now behind him, and best of all, it had gone well. He liked both of Bayley's parents, and they apparently liked him too. He couldn't have asked for more.

* * *

"I said you'd like my parents. I had a really lovely day, Seth. And I'm so glad you guys all got along, even though I didn't doubt it."

Seth and Bayley had just walked into their hotel room for the night, after what had been a long and tiring day. With a sign of relief, she threw herself onto the bed and stretched out.

"Deep down, I didn't doubt it either." Seth sat down on the edge of the bed and set about removing his shoes. "I had a nice day, angel. And the best part about it? Seeing how happy you were. I know what it meant to you to have me meet your parents."

"And you didn't get angry during the game, even though you really suck at it," she teased, although her gratitude was also obvious.

"Let's say you owe me one," he quipped back. "Now, what can I cash it in for, I wonder?"

"Don't get any clever ideas, mister."

Seth turned to look at her and grinned. "Oh, I'm not thinking about the same thing you are. What I'm thinking about is that fried breakfast you cooked for me when we stayed at your place. I want another one of those."

"Well, last time I checked, hotel rooms don't come with much in the way of cooking facilities."

"No, but our house has a cooker, and you cleaned up the kitchen. Next week when we're home, I'm calling in my 'one' for a big, dirty fried breakfast. The first of many in our house, I'm sure."

Bayley sat up and punched him playfully for his cheekiness. "Oh, you're sure, are you? I really don't think you should be."

"You have a talent for cooking, babe. It would be a real shame to waste it. Besides, I'm a growing man. I need to be well fed."

"You will be a growing man if you start on fried food all the time. I'm not going to end up married to a lazy fat guy who doesn't take care of himself." She had only been playing and they both knew it, but the mention of being married still changed the atmosphere in the room completely. Bayley found herself conjuring up the image of Seth waiting for her at the alter, looking as handsome as could be in his black suit. All of their friends lined the aisle, smiling with delight as they looked at her dress...

"You think you'll be Mrs Bayley Rollins one day then?" Seth asked eventually, intruding into her thoughts.

"One day," she said softly. "If you asked me, I mean."

Seth moved across the bed towards her, then leaned down to give her a kiss on the lips. "I'll keep that in mind. It'll depend how many fried breakfasts I get though," he added, and had to scoot out of the way to avoid the punch that she aimed at his shoulder.

"That's it, no fried breakfasts for you. At least not until you apologise."

Seth gave her his best scolded puppy expression. "But I was on my best behavior at the golf."

Bayley burst out laughing at that, and gestured for him to come back and join her on the bed. "Thank you for always making me laugh, baby."

"It's what I'm good for, apparently." Seth got back onto the bed and lay down beside her. It was then that the prospect of them spending their first night apart since they had been a couple forced itself to forefront of his mind. On the coming Tuesday, he would be working a Raw house show, while Bayley was required to be on Smackdown in a different town. It wasn't something that he was looking forward to. "I'm going to miss you Tuesday night."

"I'm going to miss you too." Bayley took his hand and rested it on her stomach, before covering it with her own hand. "It's going to be so strange spending a night away from you. It feels like we've been together for ages in some ways, but in others it only seems like a few days. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It sure is going to be strange not having you around though."

"Well, make sure you call me before you go to sleep. In fact, make sure you video call me. At least we get to see each other."

"Of course. I definitely couldn't go without calling you."

There was a long pause while they just relaxed, enjoying each other's company, before Bayley said, "You know what surprises me, Seth?"

"What's that, babe?"

"I'm actually quite looking forward to being on Smackdown, even though the crowd are going to destroy me. I bet you never thought you would hear me say that? I never though I would say it, that's for sure."

Seth rolled onto his side so that he could kiss her again. "No I didn't, but it shows how far you've come with this new character. You go out there and give as good as you get."

Bayley grinned at him, and he saw a little bit of her character's influence in it. "Oh, I will," she promised him.

"Then I can't wait to see it."


	33. Chapter 33

"All set, guys?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, we're good to go," Shane McMahon replied. Along with Daniel Bryan and Bayley, he was waiting backstage for Smackdown to go live. There were only a couple of minute to go, and they could all feel the atmosphere in the arena from behind the curtain.

Bayley's appearance had been mentioned on the previous week's show, to a reaction that could only be described as vicious from the fans. Some of the things that she had been saying in recent weeks about Smackdown, its superstars, and it's fans had not been received well at all, which was of course the intention of the creative team. But now, out in the arena, there was a real air of animosity already brewing up, just waiting to be vented at Commissioner Martinez.

"Listen, Bayley," Hunter said. "I'm thinking of sending a couple of the security guys out there with you, just in case someone decides to take things too far and try to do something."

"Hunter, no," she insisted, more firmly than she would have thought herself capable of only a matter of weeks earlier. Now, that kind of thing seemed to be happening more often. "It would make my character look weak, cowardly, if I went out there with a bunch of extra security, and I can't have that. Whatever negative things Commissioner Martinez might be, she's not a coward, especially when it comes to representing Raw."

"I agree with her," Daniel put in. "Besides, there are plenty of security guys at ringside these days. And if it does come to it that someone makes it to the ring, Shane and I will deal with it, right?"

"Yeah," Shane agreed. "We're good, Hunter. If there's heat for Bayley, that's a good thing. We need to go with it, not stifle it. If anything, Bayley needs to be looking to stir it up some more, to really get the bad blood between the shows going."

By this point, Smackdown had gone on air, and it was time for Shane and Daniel to go out to the ring to kick off the segment. Shane's music hit first, to a rapturous ovation - another indication that patriotic emotions were running high. Daniel soon joined him, being greeted in a similar way.

"I'm seeing changes in you lately, Bayley," Hunter said, now that it was just the two of them.

"I'm sorry if I was rude to you," Bayley began, before Hunter held up a hand to stop her. She had misread his comment completely.

"It wasn't criticism. I think it's a good thing that you're more confident about yourself, and you're more willing to speak up and fight your corner. To be honest, those were the only negatives I saw in you before that might have kept you from performing at the very highest level. So, well done. Keep doing what you're doing."

With that, the boss walked away, leaving Bayley standing there with a delighted smile on her face, until it occurred to her that maybe Hunter had never intended on sending security out there with her, and might have said it to how she would react. Had the whole exchange been a test? There was no way to tell, and now wasn't the time to dwell on it. She had to be ready to go through the curtain in character. Out in the ring, Shane and Daniel were already talking about challenging Raw to three traditional Survivor Series elimination matches at the upcoming pay-per-view. There was going to be a tag team match, a women's match, and of course a men's match.

Bayley heard the first mention of her name, which was greeted by aggressive booing. The fun was about to begin. Who would have ever thought she would look at it that way?

* * *

"I believe that if we are able to sit down across the table from each other and negotiate a trade for one, maybe two superstars to move in either direction, it will be an important step towards better relations between Smackdown and Raw," Shane explained to the crowd, who weren't interested in listening to a word of it. As far as they were concerned, the time for better relations had passed, thanks to the things that Raw's commander-in-chief had been saying. "And I also believe that the chance to talk face to face in private could see Daniel and I get a better understanding of Commissioner Martinez, so that we can work better together in the future."

Daniel took over, and had the honour of introducing their guest. "Therefore, please welcome to Smackdown, Raw's commissioner, Bayley Martinez!"

Bayley's music didn't hit right away, because as Daniel had been speaking, the fans had decided to make their own feelings crystal clear with a chant that was definitely not PG. "Fuck you, Bayley," was soon echoing around the arena.

Timing it to perfection, the production team waited until the chant was beginning to fade before hitting her music, which caused an outburst of boos the like of which Bayley had never heard before in her career, for herself or anyone else. It made her flinch behind the curtain, and reconsider if Hunter might have been right after all about the extra security. It was too late now though, and in any event, she had to tough it out. She had been right in what she'd told the boss; Commissioner Martinez would not hide behind security. No, she would walk through the curtain and look at the people who were booing on her like they were things that she might step in on a sidewalk. So, she did exactly that.

There was genuine malice behind the boos that greeted her entrance, as if the fans thought that they might be able to hurt her just by the amount of hatred they were sending her way. As unpleasant as it felt, she had to congratulate herself too. She had drawn this heat for herself, and that was the job she had been given to do. Vince McMahon had to be pleased about that fact.

It was when she was when she was halfway down the aisle that the someone threw a drink at her - a plastic cup that was half full of cola, she noticed as it missed her, landing on the floor in front of her. She had seen where it had came from. The offender was a fat guy in the front row wearing a Smackdown T-shirt, who was now hurling abuse of some kind at her. What the hell, she decided, let's show them what Martinez is made of.

"What the hell is your problem?" she demanded of him, when she was close enough to him so that he could hear her. "Aside from the obvious of course. It looks like you've had more than enough soda already."

"Fuck you!" the man screamed back at her, face turning red with anger. Then his friend, who was standing next to him, decided to join in.

"Get cancer, you fucking slut!"

That really shocked Bayley, as much as she tried to hide it. What a vile thing to say to someone. There wasn't any kind of positive to be found in that, so she left them to it and headed for the ring. Even with those words ringing in her ears, she kept her character up, pausing on the apron for a contemptuous look at the fans before stepping through the ropes that Daniel graciously held open for her.

Playing his part as host, Shane had fetched a microphone for her. "They were really going for it," he said quietly as he handed it over, meaning the two fans.

"One of them told me to get cancer," she told him, still shocked by it.

"Charming."

With that, it was time to get back into character. "Thank you for that warm reception," Bayley began, provoking another barrage of boos.

* * *

By the end of the night, Bayley was glad to be leaving the arena. Not only did it feel incredibly strange and uncomfortable not to have Seth around, she had also felt less than welcomed by Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss, who she had been asked to change with. Although the comments she had been making in recent weeks were obviously scripted, she could tell that the other girls had been wondering how much of it she believed for real. They had treated her almost in the way she would have expected if she had meant some of the things she said. It was hurtful, but she tried her best not to let it get to her. At least appearing on Smackdown had been a one time thing. Arguably the worst thing about it was that when she looked at Smackdown's roster and compared it to Raw's - her own, as she liked to think of it - she actually did consider it to be inferior.

She had almost made it to her hire car when she heard a familiar voice behind her. At least this conversation was likely to be a friendly one, given who it was.

"Hey, Bayley. You're still putting up with him then?"

Bayley turned and smiled at Dean Ambrose, appreciating the light hearted question. "Yeah, Dean. I'm just about hanging in there. How are you and Renee? Congratulations on the pregnancy."

"Thanks. She's doing just fine," Dean beamed, something that she had never seen him do before. "I can't wait to be a dad. The world know what's hit it when my kid comes of age. So, when are you having your first one?"

"Uh, what?" Bayley stammered, caught off guard by the question.

Dean burst out laughing and pointed at her. "The look on your face. Priceless. Relax, I'm just playing with you. I've heard things are going well with the house?"

"Yeah, the workmen are making quick work of it. There are quite a few of them on the job. Seth's dad knew some people, so we got a good price for the work. They'll be done with what they have to do pretty soon, and then it will be up to Seth and I to do the rest. I'm enjoying learning about all the DIY stuff from him. I'm not much good at it yet, but I'll get there. We're back there this week to work for a couple of days. Hey, you should come out and see the place sometime. Roman could come too. I know Seth would love that. It's not much to look at yet though, so we should probably leave it a while first."

"I'd like that," Dean replied with a nod. "I've already been informed that I'll be helping Seth build your decking. My prices are quite reasonable too."

"Right," Bayley said, playing along with the joke this time by eyeing him suspiciously. "I might be able to manage a fried breakfast, but that's all you're getting."

Dean saluted her. "Yes, boss. You give the orders out, I'll follow them. Make a man a fried breakfast and he's yours to command."

Bayley chuckled, then gestured towards her car. "I'd better get going then. I'll see you Monday, Dean. I know Seth can't wait for Shield to be back together. It's going to be really cool."

"Yeah, it is. I'll see you." Dean turned and wheeled his case towards his own car.

As she walked over to her car and stashed her case in the trunk, Bayley found herself thinking that at least she would have plenty to talk to Seth about when he called her later. It had been an eventful night.

* * *

The video call from Seth took another hour to come. By that time, Bayley had gotten back to her hotel room, changed into comfortable clothes, and was relaxing on the bed. Being alone in a hotel room was definitely not something that was strange to her, after working in wrestling for such a long time. But now, it felt very strange indeed without Seth there. It was the first time they would be sleeping apart since their relationship had started, and she wasn't looking forward to that at all. Lying there without him beside her would be the strangest feeling.

"Hey, baby," she said as she answered the call. Just seeing his smiling face on the screen made her feel warm inside. She could tell from what she could see in the background that he was in his hotel room too.

"Hello, angel. I missed you today. How are you?"

"I'm okay, missing you a lot though. It's really strange not having you around. I feel lonely in this room."

Seth's smile disappeared. "I know what you mean. It feels really strange to be away from you. It totally sucks. I'm just glad it's only for this one night."

"Yeah, me too. I'm not looking forward to trying to go to sleep tonight without being able to hold you. I did sneak one of your shirts into my case though, so I'm going to wear that. Is that weird?" Bayley asked self consciously.

"No, I don't think it's weird. Sweet is what I'd call it. You'll look sexy as hell in it. I want a picture."

"I'll see what I can do," Bayley replied coyly. "So, how was your night, baby?"

"Nothing special," Seth shrugged. "Regular house show, you know? How about you? How did the show go?"

"Where do I start? I got absolutely destroyed by the fans, not that that's really a surprise. Some of them go way too far though, Seth. One guy screamed at me to get cancer when I was walking to the ring."

Seth's expression changed again. Now he looked angry. "He said what?"

"He called me a slut and told me to get cancer. I've never heard anyone say something that vile before."

"That's way too far," Seth said, his free hand clenching into a fist. "He's lucky I wasn't there to hear that. Actually, I'm probably lucky I didn't hear it. Punching fans doesn't go down too well."

Bayley hadn't wanted to make Seth angry, much as what the fan had said deserved it, so she quickly moved the conversation on. "I saw Dean."

"I thought you would. How is he? How's Renee?"

"He said they're both doing fine. I invited him out to see the house in a few weeks, after we've done some more of the work. I wouldn't want people to see it the way it is now. Roman can come too. We'll have to ask him. Anyway, Dean mentioned that you roped him into helping out with the decking, and it turns out that I've got to pay him with one of my fried breakfasts."

"I think you could get me to do anything as long as there was one of those breakfasts on offer."

"Oh really?" Bayley raised her eyebrows theatrically. "I'll have to keep that in mind, Rollins. Now I really have power over you."

Seth grinned, although he was wishing so much that he was there to kiss her at that moment. "You have power over me anyway, apparently. Roman thinks I'm under the thumb now. Not as bad as he is, obviously."

Bayley had to giggle at that outrageous comment. "You are not under the thumb. I don't ever boss you around."

"Yeah, I know," Seth said. His tone had changed, due to how much he wanted to be there with her. "I really miss you, angel. This really, really sucks."

"I know," Bayley muttered, suddenly feeling like she wanted to cry. "I've gone weeks at a time without seeing my parents, but I've never missed anyone as much as I miss you right now."

Seeing her looking upset made things infinitely worse for Seth, and he felt guilty for upsetting her. He had to cheer her up somehow before he could possibly end the call. "I know, babe," he said, giving himself some precious seconds to think. Thankfully, something came to mind. "So, I was randomly thinking earlier, it's not all that long until Christmas. Wouldn't it be awesome if we had the house in some kind of half decent condition so that we can spend it there, just the two of us? If that's what you want," he hastily added. "I mean, if you'd rather go to your parent's place or something..."

"No, I'd love us to spend Christmas at home, just the two of us," Bayley insisted, cutting him off. She already had images in her head of them opening gifts in their living room, in front of a huge Christmas tree. "But can we make it nice enough in time? I don't mind living there while we work, but Christmas is different. Does that make sense?"

Seth knew exactly what she meant, and he had already been thinking about exactly that over the previous few days. "Yeah, it does make sense. I understand what you mean. What I thought was, we could focus our efforts downstairs, and we could move the new kitchen forward on the schedule. If we picked one out and ordered it quite soon, we could have it made and fitted before Christmas. And we could work on the living room and make that the first room we finish. I think that's achievable by Christmas, based on working two days a week. Then we can think about getting the bathrooms done in the new year, while we work on the dining room and the bedrooms. If we go really well, we might even get the dining room done too, but I wouldn't make a bet on it."

Bayley liked the sound of that. If the kitchen and living room were done, they could have a very enjoyable Christmas. It would be a shame that the dining room probably wouldn't be done too, so that they could think about inviting guests, but everything couldn't be done at once. They had to be realistic, and that's what Seth's plan was. He knew all about the work they had to do, and had a good understanding of how long it would take.

"What are you thinking, babe?" Seth asked her, and she realised that she hadn't said anything for a moment.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about how the kitchen and living room might look when they're done. You think we can definitely finish both rooms by Christmas?"

"Yeah, sure we can," Seth promised. "You'll see, the work will come along faster than you think now that we can get into it every week. Pretty soon, it's going to start looking like a home."

"Oh, Seth. That sounds lovely."


	34. Chapter 34

"Do you mind if I go find Roman and Dean? I know they're sharing a locker room now."

Bayley gave Seth a sultry smile. "You can start sharing with them too, if you want?"

"Oh no, not a chance." Seth walked over to her, making a show of studying her stunning figure as he did so. It was easy, given that she was in the process of changing into her ring gear. "I like the view much better in here."

"And what if I don't want to be looked at?" Bayley asked, pretending to take offence.

"Tough. It's not my fault you're so hot." Seth leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. With that, he left the locker room to go and find his friends.

Bayley found it adorable to see how happy Seth was that Dean was back on the same show as him. She had lost count of how many times they had ended up talking about it while they been at home for the last couple of days, working on the renovations. At least they had made some more progress where that was concerned. All of the woodwork in the living room, dining room and kitchen had now been sanded down ready for painting, and the utility room had been painted. It was the first room in the house to be completed, albeit the smallest room in the house.

The contractors were nearing completion were their side of things. French doors had been installed in the kitchen, and the previous doorway had been partially bricked up and now contained a window. The layout of the kitchen was finished, ready for a specialist kitchen design and fitting company to come and discuss their requirements. Bayley was particularly looking forward to that being done, hopefully in time for Christmas.

* * *

Seth opened his friend's locker room door as he knocked on it. Dean and Roman were sitting on steel chairs, having a catch up chat, complete with the usual frequent and cutting banter.

"Here he is," Dean said, grinning at Seth. "She does let you out of her sight then? Or did you pull the leash out of her hand and run away?"

"Me on a leash?" Seth raised an eyebrow after closing the door behind him. "Listen to the family man over here criticising others. Give it a few months, all you'll be doing is changing diapers. Well, that and everything else Renee tells you to do of course."

"He's right," Roman said judiciously, looking at Dean. "You do follow orders from Renee. Your ass is actually house trained. Never thought that would happen."

Teasing aside, Roman was proud of his two closest friends, and happy for both of them. He often considered himself as much a big brother to them as a friend, and there had been times when he had dispaired of either of them ever finding the right woman and settling down. It had certainly been a surprise that Dean had beaten Seth to it, but now that Bayley was in the picture, all three of them were in happy relationships. He felt like he just had to say something, unusual as it was to turn one of their conversations serious.

"I just want to say, guys, seriously, that I'm really happy for both of you. Dean, I know how much you've always wanted to be a dad, and Seth, I've literally never seen you happier than you have been lately. Bayley really must be the one for you."

"She is, Rome. I wouldn't usually say this to you guys, but if we're being serious for a change, I will. I really love her. I know it's soon for this kind of thing, but we kind of stumbled in to the subject of marriage the other day when we were joking around. It made me think that, yeah, I want to propose to her one day. Not soon necessarily, but I know I want to marry her." Just putting it into words like that made him feel emotional. People liked to say that they loved someone with all their heart, and now Seth knew that it was actually possible to do so.

"When you know, you know," Roman said quietly, remembering back to when he had first made the same realisation about his own wife. "Like I said, I'm really pleased for you."

"Me too, man," Dean added. "And if these fried breakfasts I've heard about are anything like they're hyped up to be, you're onto a winner." After a moment, he slapped himself in the face. "Sorry, we're being serious. So, yeah, Bayley seems like a great girl, and a perfect match for you. And while we're being serious, I have something else to say. My kid is going to have the two best uncles in the world."

"You do know we're going to spoil him or her like crazy, right?" Seth asked.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." The three men exchanged a group fist bump, as they had done on-screen so many times in the past. "Now, can we stop being serious before I have to check the fuck out of this conversation?"

"Consider it done, dickhead," Roman quipped.

* * *

That night's Raw opened with Seth going to the ring, by now as a face character, to call out Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens over their repeated cowardly attacks on him during and after his recent matches.

The two best friends had answered the call and walked to the ring, where the verbal altercation had soon turned into a pysical one, with Jericho and Owens once again using numbers to their advantage to beat their adversary down.

Recently, Roman and Seth had reformed some semblance of an alliance against the common enemy, which was why Roman soon came sprinting down to the ring. As far as the fans were concerned, Roman was acting in his own interests, rather than actively looking to team with his former Shield brother again. They were about to find out that they were wrong in that assumption.

Inititially, Roman was able to get in some offense against Jericho and Owens, but eventually the numbers once again proved to be their advantage, as the beaten down Rollins was unable to even things up.

"Owens signalling to Jericho for the Pop-up Codebreaker," Cole said on commentary. "We've seen them do this before."

"This doesn't look good for Roman Reigns," Saxton said, sounding like he was shaking his head with resignation. But then another familiar voice changed all that.

"Stop! Stop what you're doing, right now!" Bayley barked at the two offenders as she walked out through the curtain, being accompanied by Mick Foley. Even though she had just stopped the assault on the face characters, she was still greeted with boos. Getting a significant number of people to like Commissioner Martinez was proving to be an almost impossible task.

Kevin Owens looked at her, but then hauled Roman up from the canvas, intent on ignoring her order to stop.

"Don't even think about it, Owens. I'll fire your ass right here and now if I have to, which would honestly be a pity. You see, beating up the boss's boyfriend isn't a very smart idea. Who knew, right? But, I happen to know that both Seth and Roman want to get their hands on the two of you, and so they shall, right here tonight."

That at least drew a cheer, which made Bayley pause for a moment. In the ring, Owens and Jericho were having some kind of discussion about how unfair it would be to put them in a match with Seth and Roman.

"Oh, you don't like that?" Bayley went on, with the kind of grin on her face that should have made the two people she was talking to very nervous indeed. "If you don't like that, you're probably not going to like my next announcement very much either."

"What does she mean by that?" Cole asked.

"As you may remember, I met with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan last Tuesday night to discuss trading some superstars between Raw and Smackdown, and I am happy to announce that we did reach an agreement, an agreement which benefits Raw more than it does Smackdown, I might add."

"Alright," Graves said excitedly. "Who did we get, boss?"

"Boss?" Saxton groaned quietly. "Give me a break."

"The first trade that was agreed was that Paige is now signed to Smackdown, in exchange for the services of the longest reigning Divas Champion of all time, Nikki Bella!"

The crowd cheered that news. "I like that trade," Cole said. "But it looks like Owens and Jericho want to know what all of this has to do with them." He was being diplomatic about it. Kevin had plainly shouted that he didn't give a damn about Nikki Bella.

"I'm sure you don't give a damn about Nikki Bella," Bayley said. "But you will give a damn about the other person I signed to Raw, in exchange for Finn Balor. Chris, Kevin, allow me to introduce you to your third opponent tonight, in your three on two tag team match."

She and Foley moved aside, to give centre stage to the new signing. In a change to the original creative plans, Dean Ambrose's regular music hit, rather than Shield's. The crowd still immediately realised the implication, and went absolutely wild.

Dean ignored his two new superiors and ran right past them on his way to the ring. While the discussion had been going on, Seth and Roman had been recovering, and were now able to join their partner in beating down both of their foes, hitting signature move after signature move, with the crowd going crazy the whole time. After Seth got a Pedigree on Jericho, Mick Foley called time on the assault, to Martinez's obvious displeasure. It was time for him to announce the other change in creative plans.

"Enough. That will do. You'll get your chance to work out your frustrations and your differences with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho later tonight, as the commissioner said. But when that match is over, you'd better get your heads focused on Survivor Series. You see, Smackdown have challenged Raw to three elimination matches, with the main event being our five best guys against their five best guys. What I've decided is that Raw's five men will Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, and their partners will be Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho."

"I think that surprised Martinez," Saxton said, when she was shown glaring at her General Manager.

In the ring, The Shield decided to show Foley exactly what they thought of his decision, by hitting their trademark triple powerbomb on Owens, followed by another on Jericho. When they were done, Shield's music hit, to a raucous standing ovation from the crowd.

Bayley was glad that she had walked back through the curtain by then, because it would have been the hardest job in the world to contain her excitement and stay in character. She could feel the goosebumps on her arms. The Shield really were back.

* * *

"We should go out tonight," Dean said. "If The Shield being back together isn't an excuse to out for a few drinks, I don't know what is."

Seth looked over at his friend, trying to think of the best way to say no to his suggestion without offending him. The three Shield members had just walked back through the curtain after their main event match. Although he didn't drink often, Seth had been on the wrong end of a night that his friend had started out being describing as 'going out for a few drinks' more than once. Luckily for him, Roman got in before him.

"No can do, man. I've got to Skype back home as soon as I get to the hotel. There was a big birthday party today and I promised I'd call so that I could hear all about it."

"Say no more," Dean said. He knew that when Roman made his daughter a promise, he always kept it, and rightly so. It was part of being a good dad, and Dean suddenly had fresh respect for that, now that he was going to be a parent himself in the not too distant future.

"I'm going to have to pass too," Seth said next. "I made plans with Bayley to go out for something to eat, just the two of us, you know? I'm sure she wouldn't mind all that much if I cancelled, but..."

"No, I get it." Dean slapped him on the shoulder. "You'll feel like a dick if you do that."

They walked on in companionable silence until they reached Roman and Dean's locker room. Dean opened the door, but he stopped in the doorway and shook his head, before bursting out laughing.

"What?" Roman asked him.

"Honestly, I couldn't really have gone out tonight anyway. Renee already said she wanted us to have a quiet night in the hotel room. I've barely seen her this week and... Well, just look at the three of us. It's like we're all fifty years old all of a sudden. It's so much different to the last time Shield was a thing."

"Yeah, but it's different in a good way," Seth decided. "Back then, we thought it was all about having a blast, living how we wanted to live, amd fuck everyone else. Well, Roman less so than us, but you know what I mean. But now? You realise how much happier you can be by settling down instead of doing those crazy things we used to do. It puts a new aspect on things, and that's why I just want to say that if you or Renee need anything, all you have to is ask either me or Bayley. We'll be happy to help in any way we can."

"Is that going to include baby sitting, when the time comes?"

"Sure it is," Roman replied. "Uncle Seth and Uncle Roman will be happy to help out."

After chatting for another couple of minutes, Seth made his excuses and headed back to his locker room, where Bayley would be waiting. As he walked, he considered that the night hadn't gone how he'd expected it to, and he was glad about that in some ways. Just putting the fact that he wanted to propose to Bayley into words had somehow given him more confidence about the idea. The question now was when and where to do it?


	35. Chapter 35

"I heard this is the first time Raw has ever been broadcast from Scotland," Seth said. "And you know what that means."

"Yeah, it means the crowd are going to be insane," Bayley replied with a thin smile. "Of course that probably also means I'm going to come out on the worse side of it. I bet they'll be all over me."

"Anything's possible over here," Seth shrugged. WWE's shows in the UK were always some of his favourites because of how raucous and unpredictable the crowds could be. They would make up chants that had never been heard before, and they would think nothing of cheering the heel characters and booing the faces. In fact, they sometimes seemed to do exactly that on purpose. "Who knows, angel. Maybe they'll cheer for you."

"Honestly? I wish they would," Bayley admitted, glad that she could do so in the privacy of their locker room. "Sometimes it still gets to me that I'm booed and abused all the time. Being a face is much nicer."

"I know, babe."

Seth actually preferred being a heel, but he knew that his girlfriend would always feel differently, so he had chosen to simply say that he agreed with her. Getting used to her new character was one thing, liking it was another, and he wasn't sure if she would ever make it that far.

Silence descended on the locker room while Seth took out his phone and wrote out a reply to a text message that he hadn't noticed he'd received half an hour earlier, and Bayley fiddled with her hair in the mirror.

"And I've got to wrestle Alicia Fox," she complained after a couple of minutes. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have a match, but why does it have to be with her? She's got such a bad attitude towards me, and she's not exactly great to work with anyway."

"Could be worse," Seth reminded her. "Charlotte's working with Dana Brooke, maybe all the way to the Rumble."

"I'd be surprised if it goes that far, after last week." Bayley shook her head at the memory, wondering how someone could be so stupid.

On the previous week's Raw, Dana Brooke had wrestled for the first time since her suspension, against Charlotte. Later in the night, Bayley had learned from her friend that the enforced break hadn't done much to improve Dana's attitude. During the match, Dana had connected with a knee strike on Charlotte not once, but twice. Once might have been an accident, but twice in one match definitely was not. She really should have known better, Bayley thought. As the stiffest worker on the roster, Charlotte was not the one to get physical with like that, as she had proven that point first hand by making sure that her big boot finishing move had connected for real with Dana's face. Judging by the replays that Bayley had enjoyed watching, the impact must have come close to taking her head clean off her shoulders.

While she had been thinking back to those events, Seth had set his phone aside, stood up and walked over to stand behind her. "You're very negative tonight, babe," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and then kissing her on the side of the neck. "There's plenty to be happy about, and you definitely don't need to be worrying about Dana Brooke. She's a nobody. This time next year she will have been released."

Bayley knew that he was right. For some reason she was feeling down tonight, when she had plenty of reasons not to. After all, she was with the love of her life, doing her dream job. Why should minor annoyances like Dana Brooke or Alicia Fox really matter?

"Just think about how great things are going at home," Seth suggested, knowing that the progress made her as happy as it made him.

The contractors work was done for now, with the living room and bedroom walls now dried out and plastered. The plaster itself still had to be left to dry, but that wouldn't take too long. Scaffolding that the contractors had erected to work on the roof had now been removed. That alone made the house look so much better from the outside. He had to squeeze his girlfriend a little tighter when he thought back to the moment when they had gotten out of their car and seen the house without the scaffolding, both marveling at how much it had already been transformed since they had bought it. Bayley had been so touched by the moment that she had burst into tears. It was that kind of thing that Seth loved most of all about her, finding it adorable beyond description.

"I know, babe," Bayley replied. "I'm sorry for putting a downer on the night. You know I couldn't be happier, being here with you, making a home with you. I can't wait to get back there and do some more work. Even if I do suck at it," she added as a joke.

Seth chuckled, but his response was serious. "You don't suck at it at all. You're leaning very quickly. You put two shelves up in the bedroom by yourself."

"Yeah, but they've probably fallen down by now."

"Well, probably," Seth conceded, a joke of his own. "At least we met with that guy from the kitchen place. He said they'll have it all installed for us in time for Christmas, so we really will be able to spend it there. I can't wait for that."

Bayley turned around, looking up at him as she hugged him, reminiscent of her former in-ring character. "I can't wait for that either. I love Christmas. We will get a tree, right?"

"Of course we will," Seth promised her. "You can pick any tree you want, and we'll get it. We'll put it up in our newly decorated living room, and we'll have the best Christmas ever. How does that sound?"

"That sounds amazing," Bayley breathed, still hugging him. "I can picture us sitting in front of the tree, opening our gifts. It's one of the things I used to dream about, but I never truly thought I would find the perfect guy to do it with. I love you, Seth."

Seth lifted her chin and kissed her on the forehead, feeling warm inside as he always did when she said things like that to him. "I love you too, Bayley."

* * *

As predicted, the Glasgow crowd had been red hot during the opening match on Raw. As she waited behind the curtain for the commercial break to end, Bayley braced herself for the aggressive boos and abuse that would greet the start of her entrance music.

However, when her music did hit, she was stunned to hear a loud cheer, the kind of thing that she had sometimes gotten with her previous character. She didn't really understand it, but she was happy to get the support, and decided that she could acknowledge it somewhat while remaining in character.

When she walked out onto the stage, the fans cheered again, and the positive reaction continued as she made her way to the ring. She thanked the crowd with a wave and a smile after climbing through the ropes, then fetched a microphone to begin her segment. Her music faded out, and that was when she was taken by surprise again. Before she could start speaking, a large portion of the fans on one side of the arena began to sing a song that she hadn't heard for a long time.

"Hey, hey Bayley, ohh ahh, I wanna know if you'll be my girl."

She waited in the middle of the ring, trying to wait for it to fade out. However, with each repetition, more and more people were joining in. Put on the spot, she wasn't sure what to do. That song had been for her old character, so could she acknowledge it? No, not really. Cutting a promo about the fact that she was going to be captain of Raw's female team at Survivor Series was the reason she was out there, so she decided to try and go ahead with it, realising that she had done herself no favours by hesitating. Now the whole arena seemed to be singing along.

"At Survivor Series, I'm going to be the..." she began, but it was obvious that no one was listening, or even caring in the least about what she had to say. They were having too much fun with the song.

"Thank you," she said loudly, smiling after the latest repetition. "But I need to tell you about what's going to happen at Survivor..."

"Hey, hey Bayley..." drowned her out before she could go any further.

Looking around, she could see how much fun the fans were having. All she wanted to do was be a part of it. She had a big problem though, because she was out there in the ring, live on Raw, and her promo was as dead as a reaction to an Alicia Fox entrance. Vince was going to be furious. Hunter was probably going to be annoyed, too. And still the fans were singing.

All she could think of to do was to try and start over, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to work. Then someone threw a shirt into the ring, or tried to. It was one of the old purple 'I'm a hugger' shirts that had once been all the rage. Not quite flying far enough to land in the ring, it had gotten hung up on the top rope. Seeing that she was looking at the shirt, the crowd started cheering enthusiastically, encouraging her to take it and put it on. The message was crystal clear: they wanted the old Bayley back. No guts, no glory, she thought. Besides, she had to do something to rescue the mess that the promo had turned into. She walked over to the shirt and picked it up, making a show of studying it carefully. A 'Yes' chant started up, and it occurred to her that it would be a great heel move if she wiped her ass on the shirt and threw it away, but no, that wasn't the action of a commissioner. In any event, it felt so good being cheered again. Would it really hurt, just for one night?

"Maybe just once?" she wondered aloud, looking out at the fans who roared in delight at the prospect of seeing the old Bayley back for one night only. With that, she left the ring and headed for the back, with the song starting up again and reverberating around the arena.

The first thing she saw when she walked into the backstage area, still carrying the purple shirt, was Vince McMahon storming towards her, face red with anger. That didn't surprise her. Neither did the fact that Hunter wasn't far behind him.

"What the hell was that?" the Chairman roared at her.

Her instinct was to cower away from the confrontation, but that would have gotten her nowhere. "I had to do something, Mr McMahon. The promo was dying, and I had to..."

"You had to make the decision on your own back to promise the fans your old character? Who the hell do you think you are?" Vince yelled, veins bulging out of the side of his neck. "You've totally ruined the message we wanted you to put out about Survivor Series, you've ruined the character I gave you..."

Hunter put a hand on Vince's shoulder and tried to placate him. "Vince, I've got this."

"No, I've got this," Vince huffed angrily, shrugging Hunter's hand off him. Bayley felt her hands shaking as she wondered if she was about to be fired.

"No, Vince, I've got it," Hunter insisted, more firmly this time. "I've got it, and I will fix it. Okay?"

Vince glared at his son-in-law for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Alright. You fix this." Then he turned and gave Bayley an extra special glare on her own. "Both of you fix this, and you better make a good job of it."

"I didn't know what else to do," Bayley pleaded to Hunter when they were alone.

"Come over here." Hunter lead her away from the busy area near the Gorilla Position, then took the shirt from her. "You could have yelled at them to shut up. You didn't have to pick this up and then say 'maybe this once' or whatever it was you said. What were you thinking?"

Bayley looked down at the floor and mumbled, "I wanted to be cheered for once. Every week I get booed, I get abuse, some guy told me to get cancer that night on Smackdown. I just wanted to go out there and enjoy the reaction I got for once. I'm sorry."

Hunter could hear the abject sadness in her voice. Knowing how much she had loved her previous character, knowing how much she'd dreaded turning heel, then seeing how much effort she had still put into making Commissioner Martinez work had really impressed him, and made him proud. Maybe now was time to give her a little something back? After all, Bayley wasn't the kind of person who responded well to being given the riot act. The art of management was getting the most of your people. An idea came to him the figured would do exactly that.

"Alright, I've got an idea. We're pretty much committed to having you wrestle tonight as your old character, so here's what we're going to do."

Over the next couple of minutes, he laid out his idea, with Bayley nodding in agreement, thankful as much as anything for the fact that he hadn't lost his temper. Seth arrived while he was speaking, coming to find her after seeing her promo go wrong on the monitor in their locker room. He was in time to hear the end of Hunter's proposal, and nodded his agreement.

"I think that's a good idea."

"Me too," Bayley said.

"Then we have a plan," Hunter smiled. He turned to leave, but stopped and added a joke. "We don't have those tube men things here though."

"Woah, then the deal's off," Seth chuckled. The fact that Bayley only smiled told him something. It didn't take a detective to figure out that Vince must have given her a roasting. "Are you okay?" he asked her after Hunter had left.

"Vince went crazy at me. If Hunter hadn't been there, I think I would have burst into tears."

"I'm sorry I didn't come quicker myself. I was half way through changing when you headed for the back. I didn't want to go running around with no pants on."

"Probably a good decision," Bayley said, with a laugh that pleased Seth a lot. Then she looked up at him and he got one of those stunning smiles that he loved. "And I get to be a hugger again!"

Seth put an arm around her shoulders and began to escort her back to their locker room. "You can be a hugger with me anytime."

"That was so corny, Seth. You're lucky I love that kind of thing."

* * *

Alicia Fox was first to go to the ring for their match. It was no shock to Bayley that her opponent had lacked enthusiasm for the change in plans, which had made the match essentially a squash victory for the newly-returned hugger. Of course Alicia hadn't objected to Hunter about what she was being asked to do. Bayley assumed she would get that grief herself at a later date, in another attempt to bully her.

That was something to worry about at another time though, because her old entrance music hit, drawing a thunderous reaction from the Scots in the crowd. Going out into the arena and adopting the oh so familiar poses and mannerisms on her way to the ring was so much fun, and the fans were enjoying it as much as she was. Her ring attire consisted of the regular black pants with Bayley on one leg that the commissioner wore to wrestle in - she had nothing else with her - and the purple shirt that had been donated by whoever had thrown it into the ring, over the top of one of her newer Commissioner Martinez shirts, which were nothing like as successful. Wearing two shirts was crucial to Hunter's idea.

Over the next few minutes, Bayley Martinez took Alicia Fox apart, hitting all of her signature moves, with some of the crowd interaction elements that went along with the hugger character. It was a memorable match for everyone in attendance.

After she hit her finisher and got the three count, Bayley requested a microphone from JoJo. "Thank you, Glasgow. That was a lot of fun." With that, she took off the purple shirt and threw it back into the crowd, in what she hoped was something close to the direction it had come from. The fans played along, booing her, but she could tell that it was good-natured. "However, Survivor Series will not be about fun. Survivor Series will be about winning for Raw. As I couldn't explain to you earlier why I'm going to be the captain of the Raw women's team, I decided to show you instead. The ass kicking I just gave Alicia Fox will be nothing compared to what I'm going to do to Team Smackdown, or to Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble."

As she dropped the microphone to the canvas and left the ring, Bayley found herself thinking that the end result they had come up with was probably better than the original plan would have been. Her character had demonstrated what she planned to do, rather than just talking about it, and everyone had enjoyed it, especially her. Raw in Glasgow would always be a special memory for her.


	36. Chapter 36

"It's two against one now," Cole announced after Alexa Bliss was eliminated from the match by Nikki Bella. "Nikki Bella and Bayley Martinez for Team Raw, against Becky Lynch for Team Smackdown. We're looking good, Byron."

"We're looking good, Byron," JBL responded instead, mocking his former colleague. "Don't rule Smackdown out until the bell rings. Becky Lynch won't go down without a fight."

"You mean like your tag teams did?" Saxton quipped back him.

"Team Raw did win the tag team elimination match earlier tonight," Mauro Ranallo admitted. "That means that if Team Raw win this match, they will take an unassailable two to nothing lead in the battle of the brands here at Survivor Series."

Nikki tagged Bayley into the match as Becky entered the ring on the opposite side. Before taking on her opponent, Bayley exchanged a few words of strategy with Nikki, which would later prove to be a key point in the finish.

Although she was enjoying the match as much as she always did, Bayley did feel disappointed that the finish had been changed. Originally, she was supposed to be the one who got the deciding pin to win the match and secure overall victory for Raw, but Vince McMahon had decided that would no longer be the case. It didn't take much to figure out that it was a punishment for what had happened that night in Glasgow. Hunter might have spared her the worst of the riot act and helped to rectify what she had done, but it hadn't been forgotten about. The message was clear: do something like that again, you lose your push.

As usual, Seth had been right with his advice, pointing out that while it was understandable that she felt both upset and guilty about being punished, what she needed to do was show her determination to improve. Letting her head drop was no good. She had to go out there and give her very best performance, which would send the right kind of message back to the Chairman. With that in mind, she consciously gave everything she had over the next few minutes as she and Becky took the action to another level, selling the fact that they were both desperate to get the win for their teams.

When they got the signal to go home from the referee, Bayley knew what she had to do next. Even the way she was going to be eliminated was a message from Vince. After delivering a running clothesline to Becky, who was in a sitting position on the canvas, she made a cover.

"Oh, I thought Martinez had it," Cole said. "That was close, but I think Becky did get her shoulder up in time, just before the three."

"Of course she did!" JBL said.

"Martinez isn't happy with the count," Saxton said. "Look at her arguing with the referee. Now really isn't the time though."

Even as he was finishing the sentence, he was proven to be correct. Becky grabbed her legs from behind and rolled her up into a pinning combination. The crowd joined in with the count, and even the Raw fans among them seemed to take some delight in Bayley getting beaten. Becky bounded up to her feet to celebrate, but Nikki had been getting into the ring even as the pin happened, and the remaining Smackdown member didn't know she was already being stalked. When she turned around, Nikki picked her straight up and got her in position for the Rack Attack.

"That's not fair!" JBL protested as the move connected, but the referee didn't seem to have a problem with it, getting down to make the count.

"One, two," Cole joined in with the fans.

"Yes!" Saxton finished the three count for him. "Raw wins! Raw wins!"

"I think Smackdown and Becky Lynch can feel unlucky there," Ranallo said with a hint of bitterness. "She pinned Bayley Martinez and then got ambushed by Nikki Bella."

"It was legal," Cole pointed out. "As soon as Martinez was pinned, Nikki became the legal woman. You might not like it, but it doesn't matter. Raw takes a two to nothing lead and has therefore won the battle of the brands. All Smackdown can do now is try to salvage some pride in the main event."

In the ring, as soon as Nikki got the three count, Bayley, who was sitting on the canvas, had raised a clenched fist in celebration. Her character hadn't gotten the decisive pinfall, but seemed intent on taking the credit for it nonetheless. She got to her feet and demanded that the referee raised her hand, even though Nikki's music was playing.

"What are you doing?" Nikki demanded of the commissioner. "I beat her, not you. _I_ won the match."

" _I_ gave you the idea," Bayley fired back at her. Although the crowd couldn't hear what was being said, they were both selling the disagreement well enough to give everyone a good enough idea. "I'm the commissioner, I'm the team captain, and Raw is my show. My team won. My show won."

"It doesn't exactly seem like there's much harmony on Team Raw," Ranallo said.

"Here come the rest of the team to celebrate," Cole said as Sasha, Charlotte and Dana Brooke came down the entrance ramp. "Don't worry about Raw, Mauro. You've got your own problems to sort out, judging by what I've seen so far tonight."

"I have to admit, Bayley Martinez has a huge ego, and she was trying to steal Nikki's limelight," Cole said diplomatically. "But you can't deny the fact that she put in a great performance, and she did lead from the front."

Back in the ring, Charlotte had taken Nikki aside and said a few words to her, apparently trying to calm her down. Nikki nodded her agreement and smiled. The reason would soon become apparent.

"That's more like it," Saxton said happily as Bayley was picked up by the other four members of her team, who began to carry her around the ring in celebration. "That's Team Raw right there." The fans booed though, not liking the fact that Martinez was being given all of the credit for the victory.

"This is making me sick now," JBL complained. "You can't honestly tell me you're proud to have someone like Bayley..." He was cut off by someone else's entrance music hitting, and the crowd went wild.

"Oh, here comes another woman from Raw!" Cole yelled. "It's Ronda Rousey! And I don't think she's coming to celebrate with Bayley Martinez, the woman she will face in two months at the Royal Rumble."

Now the real reason that the other four women had picked Bayley up became apparent. Seeing Ronda walking down the entrance ramp, she was demanding to be put down, obviously intending to make herself scarce, but her teammates were having none of it.

"It was a setup," Saxton realised. "They're not letting Martinez escape. They're going to feed her to Ronda Rousey. This could be bad. We've already seen Ronda put Bayley through a table."

Only when Ronda got into the ring did the four women lower Bayley back to her feet, setting her down right in front of her nemesis, who had a height advantage in addition to the obvious difference in their builds. Gulping, Bayley started saying something to Ronda, plainly trying to cry off from the beating that she feared was incoming. Charlotte lead the way as the other women left the ring. Ronda averted her glare from Bayley and glanced at the crowd when some of them began to chant, "Kick her ass!"

"Oh my," Cole said quietly.

Turning back to Bayley, Ronda said a few words of her own, then turned to leave the ring, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans, who booed loudly. Seeing an opportunity for herself, Bayley rushed her soon-to-be opponent and smashed her in the back of the head with a double axe handle. Rousey went down, and Bayley took advantage by laying some kicks into her, before quickly rolling out under the bottom rope and making her way up the entrance ramp before Ronda could get back up and make her pay for it.

"I'm not sure that might have been the smartest thing for Martinez to do," Cole said. "Whatever Ronda Rousey came out here to say, I have to believe that Bayley just made things a whole lot worse for herself at the Royal Rumble."

"Judging by the look on Ronda's face, I'd say you're right," Saxton said. "And I've just been told that Ronda _will_ be on Raw tomorrow night, so hopefully we'll find out how she responds."

"I might even tune in to see that," JBL admitted. "Martinez is going to get her ass kicked, and that's long overdue. We can all agree on that."

* * *

"I'm going to enjoy this," Bayley said the next night. She and Seth were sitting in their locker room, ready to watch Raw's next segment on their monitor.

"Now that I can believe," Seth chuckled. "I think it was a good idea for them to do this, too. It gives the fans who don't know about Ronda an idea of what she can do. That's good for building your match with her."

"And Dana Brooke gets wrecked in the process," Bayley said, not bothering to try and suppress her grin. "I don't think Ronda's had any of her training in Florida yet, so she'll be working as stiff as hell. It couldn't happen to a more deserving person to be on the receiving end."

"I should have bought you some popcorn," Seth said, with a grin. On the screen, Ronda's entrance music started to play.

"Here comes Ronda Rousey," Cole said on commentary. "She represented our country at the 2008 Olympics, and almost singled handedly created women's MMA. She is also the woman who will be facing Commissioner Martinez at the Royal Rumble, and after what we saw last night after the women's elimination match at Survivor Series, I don't think that night can come soon enough for Ronda."

"I don't know what Ronda said to Bayley Martinez when she came out last night, but Bayley decided to attack her from behind as she was leaving the ring. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I don't think Ronda Rousey likes being attacked from behind."

Ronda climbed into the ring and her music faded out. Some of the fans began to chant her name as she fetched a microphone, but it didn't really catch on. The opening couple of matches on the show hadn't been that great, and had drained the atmosphere in the arena. Some weeks, that was just the way it went. "Last night," Ronda began. "I came out after Team Raw won the women's elimination match because I had something that I wanted to say to Bayley Martinez."

The mention of the commissioner's name drew some boos. Then Dana Brookes music hit, interrupting Ronda almost before she had gotten started, to another round of boos.

"What is Dana Brooke coming out here now for?" Saxton groaned.

"I don't know, but I'm glad she did," Graves shot back. "I didn't want to sit here and listen to Rousey run her mouth about our commissioner. It's time people had more respect around here, and it can start with Ronda. She only just signed for Raw, yet she thinks she can walk around doing whatever she wants?"

"Martinez can come out and try and stop her," Cole suggested, implying that there was no way it was going to happen.

"Right now, I want to know what Dana is doing out here," Saxton said, getting them back on track.

Dana got into the ring and fetched herself a microphone. Ronda studied her with the same kind of look she might give to annoying fly that needed swatting. Her expression didn't seem to register with Dana, who launched into what she had to say.

"Ronda, I wanted to come out and let you know how we do things around here. If we want to make a statement in WWE, we don't come out after a match and talk to the person we have a problem with, and we certainly don't turn our back on that person and let them embarrass us by attacking us from behind. I mean, Bayley Martinez made you look pretty stupid last night to be honest."

"Look at Ronda's face," Cole muttered. "Is Dana Brooke insane?"

"What you need to do, Ronda, is make a real statement. Prove to people that you're not stupid, and you're not going to let people push you around in WWE. Now, I know that Commissioner Martinez isn't here yet, but that doesn't mean you can't make a statement that she will understand loud and clear. What I would do, if I was you, is go back there and find Charlotte Flair. She's the Raw Women's Champion, in case you didn't know. What better way to make a statement than to beat the hell out of the Women's Champion?"

And with that, Dana's intentions had become clear. This wasn't about Ronda's match with Bayley Martinez at all, it was about having someone do her dirty work for her, given that she had so far failed to get the upper hand on Charlotte in any of their encounters. Although the idea of a fight between Charlotte and Ronda was appealing in some ways, the fans booed Dana's idea, mainly for its cowardice.

"What I was trying to say," Ronda began irritably, "was that last night I had something to say to Bayley Martinez. I told her that she had better focus all of her attention on the Royal Rumble, because those two months are going to go by faster than she realises, and she's going to be standing across the ring from me. And when she looks into my eyes at that moment, she will see that I'm about to beat her within an inch of her life. But, after what Bayley did to me last night, and after what you've just said, whatever your name is, I have made a realisation."

The crowd laughed at the insult, but Dana ignored it. "What realisation is that?"

"I realised that there is at least one thing I can respect about Bayley Martinez. She fights her own battles."

Before Dana could react, Ronda dropped her microphone and started swinging punches that looked very convincing, largely because some of them were connecting. Dana was forced back into the corner of the ring by the blows, then dropped down to the mat and tried to escape under the bottom rope, but Ronda came right after her.

"Rousey and Brooke on the outside now!" Cole yelled. "Rousey is beating the hell out of the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship!"

Ronda grabbed Dana by the arm and whipped the towards the ring steps, sending her flying into them shoulder first with a tremendous crash. The top half of the steps flew nearly all the way to the barricade in front of the fans, who roared their satisfaction at the impact.

"Christ," Bayley said, flinching away from the screen a little. "She really is destroying her."

"Yeah, and you're next," Seth joked, only to realise as soon as he said it that the prospect actually wasn't funny. "Well, I'm sure they'll have shown her how to look after you a bit better by then."

As she watched the next three minutes of action, Bayley sure hoped that he was right. The beat down was finally ended when Ronda gave Dana a powerbomb, thankfully back in the ring. After delivering the powerbomb, Ronda picked up her microphone again, glaring down at the remains of Dan Brooke. "There's at least one thing I can respect about Bayley Martinez, she fights her own battles." She then looked up and faced the camera. "Martinez, take a look at your future."

"That really was an ass kicking," Bayley said quietly as the segment came to an end. "I can't say Dana didn't need one, but she's going to be feeling that for a while. And Dana's bigger than I am, too. If Ronda throws me around like that, I'm going to be in for a long night."

"Hunter will make sure that Ronda's managed to tone it down by the Rumble. You'll be fine," Seth assured her.

They both hoped he was right.


	37. Chapter 37

A white Christmas. Bayley had barely been able to believe it when she had looked out of the bedroom window that morning. Seth had been woken by her delighted squealing, to his obvious displeasure. It had been five in the morning at the time, she had to admit. She had never been able to sleep on Christmas Eve, and she never expected to. Christmas was her absolute favourite time of year. Reluctantly, she had let him go back to sleep until almost eight. By then she had been able to wait no longer.

"I still can't believe we got a white Christmas," she said when Seth walked back into the living room carrying two cups of coffee.

"The first time you've ever seen snow in person, right?" Seth asked, remembering a conversation they'd had a few months earlier.

"Yeah. We so have to go out in it later."

"We will," Seth promised her.

Seth handed over Bayley's cup, feeling warm inside without making a start on his own drink. His girlfriend was always a bubbly, excitable person, but it was turned up to eleven today, and he found it so adorable.

Before joining her in sitting in front of their lavishly decorated tree, Seth glanced around the living with a real sense of pride. He had been confident that they would get the work finished in time for the big day, but the fact that they actually had done was still a pleasant relief. The smell of gloss paint still stubbornly hung in the air, but neither of them cared in the least about that. Both the living room and kitchen were completely finished, including decoration. The dining room was also not far from being finished. It was ready enough for them to be able to eat Christmas dinner in there, that was the main thing.

Upstairs still needed a lot more work, especially a couple of the bedrooms, which hadn't even been started yet. There was no rush to get those done though. A couple of bathroom suites still needed to be replaced, and they had decided to also replace the staircase in marble to make the entrance hall a real focal point of the house.

Overall, he decided, they had made great progress with the amount of time that they had been able to put in to working on the renovations. The fact that Bayley was a keen and quick learner had certainly helped. There were not many jobs now that he wouldn't feel fairly confident about leaving her to do.

One job he had chosen to do alone was the Christmas decorations, making a special trip home on a day when Bayley had been sent to a Make-A-Wish event by WWE. They had agreed to only get each other one gift each, in order to save money to spend on the house, particularly with the marble staircase still to be paid for. Seth had bought, put up and decorated the tree. When he was done, it had hit him what a let down it would look with just two gifts underneath it on Christmas morning. That wouldn't have done at all. Then a idea had come to him. After a quick trip back into Waukee, he had returned with the car's trunk loaded with cardboard boxes of various sizes, and a few rolls of gift wrap. A couple of hours later, there was a pile of make-believe gifts under the tree. All of the effort had been worth it, because Bayley had burst into tears of joy the next time she came home and seen it all for herself.

Seth had also considered wrapping up the engagement ring that he'd already bought as a Christmas gift and proposing to her that way, but he had decided against it, choosing to stick to his original plan instead.

Bayley, sitting by the tree with her legs crossed, picked up one of the two items that actually was a gift. "You first, baby. I hope you like it." She handed him the small box, wrapped in blue paper which was decorated with Santa figures and elves.

Seth set about trying to open it, finding it tough work. "Wow, how much tape did you use on this?" he asked with a grin.

"Bayley's special wrapping, that's what that is."

Eventually, he managed to work a corner of the paper loose, which then allowed him to tear the rest off, revealing a black box that struck him as coming from a jewelry store. Opening it up, he saw that Bayley had bought him a Seiko watch. Not being an expert, he wasn't sure how much it was worth, but it sure looked like it was worth a fortune.

"Babe, I don't know what to say," he said softly, looking up at her. "Thank you so much."

"I hope you like it," Bayley repeated nervously as he took it out of the box to examine it in more detail. "I have to admit it's not new. I could never afford a new one. It's reconditioned, but I don't think there's any way to tell."

"No, it looks amazing. I love it. Thank you so much." They talked for a couple of minutes while Seth tried the watch on, Bayley explaining that she had gotten a tip off from her father on where to by excellent reconditioned watches.

"Now it's your turn," Seth said when he picked up Bayley's gift. This one was wrapped in shiny silver paper.

Bayley let out a squeal of excitement when he handed her the gift. Quickly tearing it open, she also found dark blue jewelry box. When she opened it, she saw a silver necklace with a turquoise diamond pendant in the shape of a heart. It was stunningly beautiful. Tears filled her eyes as she lifted out of the box.

"Oh, Seth, it's beautiful."

Seth had thought about what to say next ahead of time. Hoping that she wouldn't think it was lame, he went for it. "I chose a heart because I want you to know that whenever we're away from each other, my heart is still with you."

"That's so sweet," Bayley managed to say, as the tears came.

"Don't cry, angel." Seth moved across the floor to sit closer to her, where he could hug her.

"I'm crying because I'm so happy. I don't even deserve to be this happy. You treat me so well, you spoil me, you've spent so much more money on the house than I have. I just don't deserve it all."

"Of course you do. Who cares about money? You make me every bit as happy as I make you, if not more. You deserve every bit of love I can give you. Just being here with you right now makes me happier than I ever imagined I could be."

They just held each other then, enjoying the moment, Seth stroking Bayley's hair as she rested her head on his shoulder.

A loud bang on the window made them both jump out of their skins.

"Jesus Christ. What was that?" Seth asked, standing up to look. The patch of snow on the glass pane told him all he needed to know. Someone had thrown a snowball which had presumably missed its intended target and hit their window instead. He walked over to the window, then smiled at what he saw. "Babe, get some warm clothes on."

"What? Why?" Bayley stood up and was about to walk over to look out the window, but Seth ushered her out of the door instead.

"No time. Just put some warm clothes on, quick."

"Seth, what's going on?" It was no good though, she was being shepherded up the stairs. A couple of minutes later they were walking back down, wearing several layers to protect them against the cold.

"Where are we going?" Bayley demanded, standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hands on her hips.

"You'll need these." Seth tossed over her black beanie and her pair of leather gloves. He had similar items of his own, and he put them on as he headed for the front door.

Given no choice, Bayley followed after him. She felt a blast of cold air hit her when he opened the door. He stood in the doorway, looking out.

"Sorry, Mr Rollins. I was trying to hit my dad," she heard a boys voice shout, recognising it as the son of their closest neighbours.

Bayley reached the doorway and looked out, smiling immediately at what Seth had refused to tell her. She counted six kids from the neighbourhood and four parents, all engaged in a snowball fight. It was exactly what she had dreamed about when they'd first moved in together. Seth had promised her that it would happen one day, and it was, on Christmas day of all days.

"Get your game face on, babe. This means war." Seth picked up some snow, made a ball out of it and hurled it back at the offender who had hit their window. He made sure not to throw it too hard because the kid was probably early teens at most. In any event, the shot missed to the left, hitting a parked car.

"Woah! That's my car!" The man's anger was feigned, and he followed up with a snowball from across the street. It fell short of Seth.

"Right," Bayley said with determination, putting her gloves on as quickly as she could. She closed their front door after making sure her keys were in her coat pocket, then it was down to business. She scooped up a ball of her own and launched it across the street, causing the man who had thrown at Seth to dodge out of the way.

"There's eight of us this side of the street and four on yours!" someone shouted.

"Yeah, but we're better shots than you!" Seth shouted back, scurrying across their front garden to crouch down and hide behind the picket fence.

Bayley wasn't quite quick enough, and she took a snowball to her right leg on her way across the small lawn. "Who threw that?" she demanded, peaking her head up over the fence. Another ball sailed over her head, making her take cover again.

"We're pinned down here!" Seth called out.

The kid who had hit their living room window vaulted over the fence, landing next to Bayley, hurling a snowball across the street as he did so. "I got your back, Mr Rollins."

"Your dad's on the other team?" Seth asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah. We've got to get him."

"Alright, all three of us aim for him, on my mark."

They scooped up and compacted a snowball each, then Seth peaked over the fence. Those on the other side of the street had taken cover behind their own fences and cars. One of the other adults was the other person on Seth and Bayley's side, and he dashed over to join them behind their fence.

"He's behind the car straight across from us," Seth said quietly. "Wait for him to throw at us, then we throw back."

Their target popped up above the hood of the car a moment later, saw Seth's head and threw his snowball. "Now!" Seth yelled, as the ball struck the fence with a bang. All four people on Seth's team popped up and launched their balls at the same target. Three of them missed, but Seth's struck its mark, right on the top of the guy's head as he tried to duck back down behind the car.

All four of them burst out laughing. "Laser sighted," Seth pretended to boast. "Do _not_ get on the wrong side of me in a snowball fight."

Little did he know, he had left the top of his own head sticking up while he showboated, and someone made him pay, striking him on the back of the head with loosely packed ball which exploded everywhere.

Bayley burst out laughing so hard that her sides started to hurt. Judging where the shot had come from, she peaked over the fence and threw a ball of her own which only just missed the kid who had hit Seth.

The fight went on for the next fifteen minutes, by which time everyone had been hit multiple times. A couple of people had turned traitor, crossing the street to Seth's side to even the numbers. It was when Seth got brave that he made himself a problem. He'd had one of his opponents on the run, and had jumped over the fence to get a better shot. It worked, his shot struck the guy square in the back, but then he realised that he was out in the open. Balls starting flying at him from all angles.

"Christ!" he exclaimed, and tried to jump back over the fence in retreat. His foot caught on the top of it and he fell, landing square on top of Bayley, who ended up flat on her back in the snow. At first he was worried that he might have hurt her, but she lay there laughing as she looked up at him.

"Not such a hero after all, Rollins."

"You know I'm you're hero, Martinez," he countered, smiling. He had never felt happier than he did at that moment, looking down at his beautiful girlfriend with her cheeks and nose red from the cold. This really was the king of thing dreams were made of. It was already the best Christmas ever. Leaning down, he kissed her softly on the lips. "I love you, angel."

"I love you too, Seth."

"Eww!" the boy next to them shouted. "They're kissing. I'm out of here."

After Seth helped her back up, Bayley made sure to hit the turncoat with a snowball as he ran across the street. "I'll never forget this as long as I live, Seth," she told him when they took cover behind the fence again.

"Neither will I, angel. But right now? We've got a war to win." With that, he scooped up another snowball and launched it across the street.


	38. Chapter 38

"I'm still nervous about the match," Bayley said to Seth. They were now alone, sitting in their locker room, less than an hour before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view went live. Ronda Rousey had just left, after stopping by to go over some of the details for their match. Even that hadn't made Bayley feel much better about the whole thing. Judging by looking at her, Ronda was in possibly the greatest shape of her life, and the many bumps and bruises that Dana Brooke had received in the beating that she'd been given the night after Survivor Series still lived long in Bayley's memory, too. Dana had hardly been seen on TV since. Every cloud has a silver lining, Bayley thought.

"You'll be fine, babe," Seth said, trying his best to put her at ease. "Remember what Hunter said to you the other night; Ronda's done well in her training down at the Performance Center. Sure, she'll be working stiff, but you've been in there with Charlotte enough times. I've not seen many people work stiffer than her. Now, Ronda and Charlotte, that really could be a brutal match. They should book it."

Bayley briefly pictured that contest going down. "You're right, that would be wild. I'd love to see it. As for tonight, a large part of me will be glad when I've at least taken the first move from Ronda and she's delivered it properly."

"Seriously, angel," Seth said, taking her hand. "Hunter wouldn't let you go out there with her if he thought you were going to get hurt. It's one thing for Dana Brooke to take a bit of beating, it's another for them to have you, one of the company's biggest female stars, out there with Ronda on pay-per-view in a full blown match. They just wouldn't do it. If Hunter says Ronda's ready to go, I believe him. If you don't trust him, then trust me. I really want you to try and feel better about this before you go out there, because this isn't the right mindset to be in for something this big."

Trying to draw as much confidence from his words as she could, Bayley looked into his eyes. Knowing that he wouldn't take a potential threat to her safety lightly, she considered the logic of what he'd said. It did make sense. The trainers at the Performance Center were without doubt the best in the business, she knew that first hand. If they had reported back to Hunter that Ronda was ready for the match, then she really should take their word for it. Seth was also right that going into a match with a negative approach wasn't a good idea. A wrestling match was all about trusting your opponent, and your opponent trusting you. Without that mutual trust from both people in the ring, things really could get dangerous real fast.

"I do trust you and you're right, I do need to trust Hunter, and I need to trust Ronda. It's not fair for me to assume she's going to be dangerous. She's been down to Florida and put the time in to train, and they've obviously said that they're happy with what she's been doing. Thank you, Seth. You've made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. Although, if I come back here broken in half, I'm putting all of the blame on you."

"Deal," Seth grinned. "Honestly, you're going to do just fine. This might not be the best match of your career so far, but in some ways it is the biggest, just for the fact that they gave the match with Ronda to you. It shows how much they believe in you. What I'm saying is enjoy it, and knock it out of the park. I know you will, anyway."

Bayley kissed him on the lips. "I love you, baby. You always find a way to say the best things to me and give me confidence. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"That's never going to be a problem you'll have to worry about," Seth promised her.

* * *

After the promo package for the match had finished, JoJo was shown standing in the ring. "The next contest is a women's division match, scheduled for one fall."

Bayley's music was first to hit, drawing the usual boos. Despite the success Raw was enjoying compared to Smackdown, the commissioner was still unpopular with most of the show's fans.

"Here comes Commissioner Martinez," Corey Graves said proudly when she walked out into the arena. "I want to say before we get started that I object in the strongest possible terms to the way this match was made. Mick Foley had no business whatsoever in signing his boss up for a match against Ronda Rousey without even speaking to her about it first. I wish Bayley had fired him for doing that. And Foley, I want you to know that whatever happens here tonight is on you."

"You don't sound very confident, Corey," Saxton fired back, almost taunting his colleague. "Are you saying you don't think Bayley can beat Ronda Rousey?"

"No one is a bigger supporter of Ms Martinez that I am," Graves said cautiously. "But come on, this is Ronda Rousey we're talking about. You saw what she did to Dana Brooke."

"Ronda Rousey destroyed Brooke on Monday Night Raw, the night after Survivor Series," Cole reminded everyone. "We've hardly seen Brooke since, and I don't think she'll ever be the same again. There are a lot of people who think that our commissioner needs, shall we say, putting in her place, and that's what Ronda has said that's what she is here to do tonight at the Royal Rumble."

Bayley climbed into the ring, feeling more confident than she had expected to, even as she tried to make herself look nervous for the cameras. Commissioner Martinez definitely wasn't relishing the prospect of going toe to toe with Ronda. Her music faded out, being replaced almost immediately by Ronda's, which drew a respectable cheer from the fans. Vince and Hunter had probably hoped for more support for Ronda, Bayley knew, but they would have had to secure her for more appearances to build the rivalry for that to happen. Sure, the crowd wanted to see Martinez get her ass kicked, but the rivalry wasn't white hot by any means.

Ronda marched quickly to the ring wearing a Monday Night Raw hoodie over her ring gear, with the hood up.

"We're about to see Ronda Rousey wrestle in a WWE ring for the first time," Cole said, trying to hype it up as much as he could. "She looks focused, determined. Rousey has the advantages of height, reach and power, whereas Martinez has speed on her side, as well as more experience in wrestling, obviously. Byron, how do you call it?"

"I can't see anything other than a Rousey victory. If I'm Bayley Martinez, my game plan has to be to try and tire Rousey, then figure out a way to use that to my advantage."

"Don't write Ms Martinez off," Graves cautioned them. "If she can stay away from the armbar and the powerbomb that we've seen Ronda use, I think she has a chance. Rousey might be the greatest in UFC, but this is _not_ UFC. This is the squared circle. I think Bayley can win this."

In the ring, Ronda removed her hoodie and dropped it over the top rope to the floor, where a member of the crew picked it up and took it to the back.

"Rousey's wearing red gear," Saxton said in surprise. "I've never seen that before. She's representing Raw alright."

The two women had locked eyes across the ring. It was time to begin. Both competitors walked out of their corners, and the referee called for the bell. The noise in the arena rose as the fans waited for the violence to begin. Martinez was no idiot, though. She wasn't going to make what could easily be the fatal mistake of rushing in on Ronda. They paced around the ring, eyeing each other up, neither one wanting to make the first move. Bayley faked a step closer to Ronda a couple of times, testing what the reaction would be.

"Come on, let's go!" Saxton called out.

"Martinez is playing it smart," Graves countered. "You can't win a match in the first thirty seconds, but you can lose it."

A few moments later, the two women locked up for the first time, only for Ronda to use her strength advantage to launch Bayley clean off her feet, flying backwards across the ring. The fans cheered the impressive display of power while Martinez looked up at her opponent from the canvas even more warily. Ronda's expression of concentration never changed.

The next time they locked up, Bayley managed to momentarily get the advantage, whipped Rousey into the ropes, but when she bounced back and Bayley tried use the momentum to hit a suplex, Rousey blocked it and hit an overhead suplex of her own. Once again, the fans cheered the impressive impact.

As she sold the move, Bayley was finally able to set her pre-match fears to rest. The suplex had been delivered close to pefectly, and she had never been in danger of getting hurt.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Cole said a few seconds later. "Look at Bayley holding her shoulder. I think she landed pretty heavily on it."

After backing Ronda off, the referee crouched down beside Bayley, clearly asking if she was okay. In obvious pain and with her right arm limp, Bayley seemed to be gesturing that her shoulder had come out of it's socket. The crowd booed, unhappy with the delay in proceedings.

"I think Bayley's dislocated her shoulder," Saxton said. "What a shame this would be if the ref has to call the match. We've waited two months for this, and it could be over in under two minutes."

Ronda made to go over to Bayley again, but the referee insisted that she go back to her corner, more forcefully this time. Bayley started to use the ropes to pull herself up with her good hand.

"Bayley, do you want to continue?" the referee could be heard asking her. "If you want me to ring the bell, I'll ring it."

Ronda came over again, angrily asking the referee what was going on. Seeing her opponent with her guard down, that was when Bayley decided to strike, delivering a vicious kick to the side of her knee. Realising that the whole thing had been a cowardly deception, the crowd booed angrily.

"Brilliant!" Graves yelled. "That's sheer brilliance from Bayley Martinez. She suckered Rousey in, and now has the advantage. Look at her go, delivering kick after kick to the body."

One thing no one had expected was a period of dominance for Bayley, but that was what they got over the next couple of minutes as Bayley worked on Ronda's injured knee, keeping her on the mat as much as possible.

"You've got to admit this is smart strategy by Martinez," Graves said. "She's keeping Rousey grounded, taking away all of the advantages that she might have."

The plan didn't work for long though. Ronda countered one of Bayley's attempted holds into a pinning combination, and that was enough to turn the tide. When both women got back up, Ronda got in first with a kick to the stomach followed by a double underhook suplex. Just like that, Bayley had blown it. For the rest of the match it was all Ronda, who delivered suplex after suplex, impressing everyone with five or six variations she was was able to use despite it being her first wrestling match.

"That must be fourteen, maybe fifteen suplexes without reply," Cole said. "Bayley Martinez looks like she's been through a couple of rounds in the Octagon with Ronda Rousey. The referee should think about ending this, because Martinez isn't even defending herself at this point."

It was true. All Bayley could do was use the ropes to try and get to her feet.

"Come on, Bayley," Graves pleaded. "Think of something. You've got to get away from all of these suplexes."

As if on cue, Bayley did try something different, literally throwing herself at Ronda in a desperate attempt to at least take her off her feet. The plan worked, at least in that respect. Both women ended up grappling with each other on the mat, both fighting to get the upper hand. Ronda's shoulders ended up down on the mat, but only for a one count. Even as that happened, the end arrived for Bayley. Ronda had gotten a grip on Bayley's left arm. Seeing that, everyone in the crowd who had seen her fight in UFC before knew that the match was over, and cheered before the decision even happened.

"Oh, Rousey's got the arm!" Cole called out. As soon as Ronda overpowered Bayley and got her arm straightened out, Bayley tapped immediately on the mat with her free hand. "It's over! Just like that! Bayley Martinez taps out to the armbar after being dominated by Ronda Rousey!"

"Dominated is the word," Saxton agreed as Ronda celebrated her victory in the ring. Bayley lay there selling an injury to her arm. "Bayley Martinez hardly got out of the gate in this match. Ronda promised an ass kicking, and that's what she delivered."

"Our commissioner gave it all she had. You can't ask for more than that," Graves said, grasping for a positive in the humiliating defeat.

Still holding her arm, Bayley had crawled over to the corner of the ring, propping herself up in a sitting position on the bottom turnbuckle. Judging by the expression on her face, she was devastated by the convincing way she had been beaten. Some fans were sure to be angry about a UFC star coming in and rolling over one of WWE's best female wrestlers, but the truth was that Vince McMahon had a reason for booking the match this way. They were about to find out if it was going to work.

Finished with her victory celebrations, Ronda walked over to the corner of the ring closest to the timekeeper and asked for a microphone. Her music faded, and so did the noise from the crowd, who weren't sure what was going to happen next. Ronda walked over to stand in front of Bayley, who looked warily up at her.

"Bayley, I have to give you credit. Yes, you came up short tonight, but you gave it everything you had. You didn't try to weasel your way out of the match, and you fought me one on one, which I honestly didn't expect. You didn't earn the win in this match, but you did earn some respect." She held out a hand, offering to pull Bayley to her feet. "Now show some class."

Bayley looked at the outstretched hand, clearly in two minds as to whether she should accept it.

"Show some class," Ronda repeated, almost making it sound like a dare.

Some of the crowd booed Ronda for offering the olive branch, while others cheered, trying to encourage Martinez to show the class that was being demanded of her. Then, to a generous round of applause, Bayley took the hand, and Ronda pulled her to her feet. Much to everyone's surprise, Bayley then applauded and bowed her head slightly in defeat, acknowledging that she had been beaten by the better woman on the night. Ronda had tossed the microphone away, and her music started to play again as she exchanged a brief hug with her beaten opponent.

"I've got to admit that is a classy gesture from Bayley Martinez, like her or not."

And that was the key to it. This was the start of an attempted partial face turn. Yet again, McMahon was making a play to convert Commissioner Martinez into the divisive character that he had originally envisioned, rather than the hated one that he'd actually got. The next step was to have Bayley and Charlotte siding with each other somewhat in a new storyline.

It was a well thought out plan to get Bayley some popularity. Ultimately, though, it was destined to fail.


	39. Chapter 39

Seth stood in the middle of his back garden, looking back towards the house, with Roman and Dean either side of him. All three men were sweating profusely as they admired their handiwork. The middle of July wasn't the best time to spend all day doing manual labour. Thankfully, the work was now complete.

"I think we've done a good job there," Seth said tiredly.

"What do you mean we?" Dean asked. "Me and Roman did a good job. Your ass is useless."

Seth chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. My house, my decking. I had to supervise."

"He's even got excuses prepared!" Roman exclaimed, feigning incredulousness.

"Seriously though, thanks guys," Seth said, wiping his brow. "I can't believe we're finally done. It's taken us the better part of a year, but our home is finally finished."

Roman clapped his friend on the shoulder. "We're glad we could help."

"But there was a mention of payment," Dean reminded them.

"Yes, I know," Seth replied tolerantly. "Bayley's making it now. You really don't change, do you? Your stomach rules your life."

"I'm eating for two," Dean protested.

Both of his friends laughed at his stupidity as they started to walk back towards the house. "I think it's the mother of a baby who eats for two, I'm just saying," Roman quipped.

"And she already gave birth," Seth added. "So she's not even eating for two anyway."

"Whatever," Dean said with a dismissive hand gesture. "I just want my big ass steak."

"Have a seat, guys," Seth said when they reached the newly-constructed decking. A sturdy wooden table and chairs set had been given pride of place in the centre. "I'll go check on Bayley and I'll come back with beers."

"Now we're talking," Dean said.

Smiling broadly, Seth walked through the open French doors into the kitchen. Bayley was standing at the cooker, turning over one of the four thick cut steaks that she had bought that morning. He was almost salivating, anticipating the moment when she served them along with her homemade peppercorn sauce and a bowl of her own fries.

He hesitated in the doorway for a moment, suddenly struck by how blessed he was. He really did have it all. A stunningly beautiful soon-to-be fiance - provided that she said yes when he popped the question - who had made him happier than he had ever imagined he could be since she had come into his life. Added to that was their home, which now really did deserve the description amazing. Anyone who saw before and after pictures would have struggled to believe they were looking at the same house. Working on the renovations with Bayley was an experience that he would never forget, and he knew she felt the same way.

"All done, baby?" she asked, looking over at him with a heart-warming smile.

"Yep. We set the table and chairs out as well, so we're ready to eat. That steak looks and smells incredible."

"I do try," Bayley grinned. "Can you please take the wine out to the table?"

"Sure. And I'll take some beers for the guys."

Neither Seth or Bayley liked drinking beer, but a bottle of wine usually went down well on special occasions. Today was definitely a special occasion.

"I'm nearly done, Seth, so take the drinks out and I'll be out after I plate up."

"Okay, angel," Seth said, kissing her softly on the side of the neck. Feeling her shiver slightly at his touch made him smile. Hopefully there would be more of that later, after the guys headed for the airport, he thought.

"Oh yes, that's what I'm talking about," Dean said a couple of minutes later when Bayley carried the first two plates to the table. She set one down in front of Dean, and the other in front of Roman. They both thanked her, and she went back to fetch the next two plates. The third trip was for for the huge bowl of fries and the smaller bowl of peppercorn sauce.

"Thank you," Seth said when she handed him the sauce, after pouring some onto her own steak.

"Enjoy, guys. It's the least I could do after all your hard work. Thank you so much for coming out, especially you, Dean. I felt so bad that we asked you so soon after Liam was born. I know you and Renee both said you were okay with it, but..."

"It really is okay," Dean assured her as took the huge bowl of fries from Roman and scooped some onto his plate. "Renee's mom and dad are there with her. They're probably happier I'm away," he added with a grin.

"We really have to come over and meet the little guy," Seth said. "He's got a favourite uncle and he doesn't even know it yet."

"Sure he does," Roman countered. "I've already been and met him. That makes me favourite uncle by default."

Dean laughed. "Don't let Renee hear the two of you arguing over it like that. She'll slap both of you and throw you out of the house."

"And I'll help her," Bayley added, making everyone else laugh. "Seriously though, I can't wait to meet little Liam."

"No calling my boy little," Dean objected, feigning offense.

"He'll be little if he takes after his old man," Seth said. "Don't forget we've seen you in the shower how many times."

Bayley grimaced as she chewed her mouthful of food. "Really? At the table?" she asked after swallowing.

"This is the animal you're living with now, Bayley," Dean said with a sly grin. "He acts all goody-goody around you..."

"Shut it and eat," Seth told him, laughing.

"How can I shut it _and_ eat?"

Everyone laughed at that, then a contended silence settled over them for a couple of minutes while they enjoyed the food.

"It's alright for some, isn't it?" Roman asked Dean eventually. "These two have a month off just around the corner."

Being reminded of it caused Bayley to feel sad in a way. Having a month off was nice, of course, and the fact that Seth had the same time off was even better. With the renovations now complete, they planned to make the most of the time off by going on vacation to St Barts in the Caribbean for two weeks. Completely recharging their batteries would definitely feel good.

What made her feel sad was the reason for the break. Her character was being withdrawn from television, thanks, she assumed, to the fact that McMahon's vision for it had never really worked out, despite the hard work that had been put in. The time off-screen was to enable her and Seth to return with their characters modified, probably involving a face turn for her. She never would have thought she would feel down about the prospect of saying goodbye to Commissioner Martinez and turning face again, but now the prospect was at hand, it made her realise how much she had come to like her current role. It would be a sad moment when she left the ring as the commissioner for the final time, in less than a couple of weeks.

"I hope you enjoy it," Dean said, being uncharacteristically serious. He was thinking about the little secret that Seth had let him and Roman into earlier. Quickly, he realised that he needed to avoid letting on. "I'm sure you will, I mean, it's two weeks in the Caribbean."

"I've never been anywhere like that before," Bayley said. "I can't wait. It will be the vacation of a lifetime. I've got to get through the downfall of my character before that, though. I'm going to be sad to let it go after all this time. I never thought I'd be saying that when Hunter broke the news to me about it."

"A lot of people hate Commissioner Martinez, but no one can say she's not iconic on Raw," Roman said. "The thing you have in your favour is that Raw has consistently out-performed Smackdown since the brand split. That has to be the defense your character uses in her last speech."

"Oh, it will be," Bayley promised him. "Martinez won't go down without saying her piece, that's for sure."

* * *

The storyline that was going to see Commissioner Martinez ousted from office revolved around the idea of Raw and Smackdown joining together once more to form a single brand, with a single roster, a single management structure and a single set of policies. Ever keen to practice equality, Smackdown's management had been universally in favour of the idea. Martinez, on the other hand, had spoken out vehemently against it, saying that the idea was more about sneaking Smackdown's policies onto Raw by the back door, which was especially objectionable as those policies had been proven not to work, in her opinion.

Martinez had a big problem in that over the course of her time in office, a large number of her own roster had become alienated by what they perceived to be a commissioner who didn't help those in the lower half of the roster. Those people were also keen to see the two brands unite, in the hope that they would be better off under new management. It was with that backdrop that Kevin Owens, one of Bayley's biggest supporters, was shown walking into her office when Raw went on the air.

"Bayley, I know you have to make an address tonight about the proposed single roster. I just wanted to let you know that there's a real air of discontent backstage. Obviously those on what we call the other side of the locker room aren't happy. You know what they're like, looking for any opportunity to protest against you and your policies."

"Kevin," Bayley cut in, with a overly-tolerant look on her face. "I appreciate you coming in here, but you really don't need to explain my locker room to me. I know what some of those people are like. The thing you have to keep in mind is that it's not whether you start a policy, it's whether you have the strength of character to see it through. We're building Raw into truly outstanding wrestling show, as evidenced by the ratings we get every week. I'm not going to sacrifice that by allowing Vince McMahon to reunite the shows. Too much hard work has been put in to have it sabotaged from outside."

Owens grimaced, reluctant to provide his next piece of information. "There are rumblings of discontent from our side of the locker room too. I've even heard that Mick Foley is considering resigning if you don't change your approach to the single roster. People are saying that if Foley resigns, it will trigger a vote of no confidence against you, and a lot of people will support it. Bayley, people are looking to have you kicked out of office. That's the reality of the situation. Maybe you should reconsider what you want to say tonight?"

Bayley looked long and hard at him, not revealing much with her expression as she considered what he had said.

* * *

The debate about the future direction of Raw had been going on for ten minutes. Bayley stood on one side of the ring, flanked by several of her closest supporters. Mick Foley stood on the other side, with some of the lesser names on the roster behind him. It had become his job to try and represent their side of things, and deal with the commissioner on their behalf. Most of the discussion so far had revolved around the potential benefits of a single roster. Of late, Foley had seemed to be particularly in favour of that aspect of the proposed changes.

Opinions in the crowd seemed to be largely against Martinez, which was certainly not out of the ordinary. Some people could see her side of things though, given that Raw did consistently out-perform Smackdown.

"The problem the commissioner seems to have," Foley went on, "Is that she seems to believe this is all an attempt to take powers away from her as far as running Raw is concerned, when the truth is that the objective is to make WWE a better product as a whole. I think this is the biggest point that we're differing on."

Those behind him cheered loudly, joined by some of the fans. Then it was Bayley's turn to speak for the first time.

"Yes, these ideas _are_ about taking powers away from the commissioner of Raw," she began loudly over the boos that greeted her. "And they are about giving those powers to someone who is non-elected, and will not have Raw's best interests at heart. And I do not _want_ those power to be taken away, at the expense of the Raw, so of course we are differing."

The forcefulness in her voice had made everyone in the crowd shut up and listen.

"And yes, the Chairman of WWE, Mr McMahon, said in an interview the other day that he wanted a single roster, he wanted a single economic policy, and he wanted a single management team for both Smackdown and Raw." She paused for a half-second, glaring across the ring at Foley. The next three words she spoke would long be remembered as the ones that caused her downfall, largely because of the sheer stridency they contained.

"No! No! No!"

Unanimously, those standing behind Foley erupted into protest, as did a large number of the crowd, growling their displeasure at Martinez. There was a real sense that she might have just picked a hill to die on, and they wanted to make sure it happened.

Bayley went on lambasting the new ideas and everyone who backed them for several minutes before the segment came to an end.

Later that night, Mick Foley's resignation as general manager would be announced on the WWE website, followed later in the week by the news that a vote of no confidence against Bayley Martinez had been brought to WWE's board of directors. In turn, that would be followed the next day by the announcement that Martinez had resigned.

Seven days from now, she thought as she walked up the ramp after the segment, she would be making the same journey for the last time as her current character. The thought brought tears to her eyes.


	40. Chapter 40

Following the announcement of the resignation of Commissioner Bayley Martinez, it had been announced that she would make a farewell address on the next Raw show. It had also been revealed that the opportunity would be presented to superstars from either side of the divided locker room to pose questions to her regarding her time in office.

When the time came for Raw's final segment, there was a curious atmosphere in the arena. A lot of the fans were glad that Martinez was going, after what they saw as her reign of terror. Most of that contingent held nothing but contempt for her, but some of them were at least able to respect some of the good that she had done for Raw. On the other hand, the supporters Martinez did have were disgusted by the way she had been treated, being kicked out of office after what they perceived to be a great period of growth for the show she had been in charge of. Even those who had contempt for her were able to feel some respect for the way she had stuck to her policies to the end, and had chosen to bow out gracefully rather than tarnish her legacy.

The final debate was to be directed by Michael Cole, who would keep order and take the questions on Bayley's behalf. Cole himself was first to enter the ring. Firstly, he introduced Kevin Owens, Nikki Bella and Finn Balor, who were devout supporters of Martinez. They entered together, without entrance music. This wasn't a time for entrance music or theatrics. Next came Cesaro, Sheamus and Chris Jericho, who were there to represent the other side of the locker room.

When all six guests were in the ring, Cole made his last introduction. "And finally, please welcome the commissioner of Monday Night Raw, Bayley Martinez."

Bayley also entered without entrance music, looking like a million dollars in her perfectly tailored black suit. She was greeted with a loud mixture of cheers and boos which combined to make what could only have described as noise. One way or another, most people seemed to have an opinion on her character. It seemed ironic, given that Vince had pulled the plug on it precisely because he didn't think that had happened. Walking to the ring, Bayley did her best not to feel sad. Now wasn't the time. Martinez had to give her best performance yet in defending her policies from the critical questions that were going to come her way. And boy, was she going to defend them.

She entered the ring, being enthusiastically applauded by Owens, Balor and Nikki as well as her supporters in the crowd.

Rightly given centre stage to speak first, she spent a few minutes outlining the many ways that Raw had performed better than Smackdown under her leadership. Then it was on to the questions from the three supporters who stood behind her, who essentially used their questions just to help her prove the points she had already made. When the time came for the first question from the other side of the ring, Bayley felt herself genuinely relishing it. She personally believed in the kinds of political ideas that had been attributed to her character, so she would easily be able to put conviction into her answers.

"I'll take the first question," Bayley told Cole, gesturing to those across the ring from her.

"Mr Jericho," Cole said, using the formal address that Martinez had always insisted on for things of this nature.

"Thank you, Commissioner," Jericho said respectfully. Differing views or not, respect was both required and deserved. "There can be no doubt that you have achieved significant economic success for Monday Night Raw." He had to pause because the Martinez supporters, both in the ring and in the crowd jeered him loudly for his admission. "However," he went on eventually, "there is one statistic that is not challengeable, and that is that during your eleven months in office, the gap between the richest ten per cent of the roster and poorest ten per cent has widened significantly. How can you justify the fact that some of the people on our side of the locker room are relatively much poorer off than they were this time last year? Surely that is not a record any commissioner could, or should be proud of?"

"Commissioner," Cole said, turning to her for her answer.

"Mr Jericho, _everyone_ on the Raw roster is better off than they were eleven months ago." That strange mixture of cheers and boos again. "Mr Jericho, what you are saying is that you would rather the poor were poorer, so long as the rich were less rich. That sounds like a Smackdown policy. That way you will never create the wealth required to build the best wrestling show in the world, as I have. What a policy," she spat at him with real venom. "Yes, you would rather have the poor poorer, so long as the rich were less rich."

"No..." Jericho started to say.

"Yes!" Bayley fired back at him. "You might not have wanted it to come out that way, but it did. Mr Cole, next question."

"Sheamus," Cole said.

"Commissioner, I don't have a question," the Irishman said. "I just wanted to point out that I detest every single policy you've ever had, and I've never hidden that."

"And I've got the same level of contempt for the Smackdown policies that you love so much, as the people over there who've been experiencing their constant failures have after experiencing them," Bayley snarled at him. The last few words were drowned out by the cheers of her supporters, who possibly seemed to be growing in numbers.

"I think I must have hit the nail on the head when I said that the logic of those policies is that you would rather have the poor poorer. Once you start to talk about the gap, you realise that they'd rather the gap was that." She held her a finger of each hand a tiny distance apart, at waist level. "Where as on Raw, it's that, up here." She held her hand up at head height, with her fingers further apart. Her supporters cheered loudly again.

"Mr Cole, next question please," she said when the noise started to die down.

"Cesaro," Cole offered.

Cesaro kept his voice calm and professional as he tried to get the discussion back on track. "Commissioner, could you tell us if you will be continuing your personal fight against a single roster and a single management structure after you leave office?"

Before Bayley could answer, Jericho cut in with a joke at that definitely hadn't been on the script. "No, she's going to be the general manager."

The joke broke the tension of the moment and everyone in the arena burst out laughing, including the three people who were there to support Bayley. As everyone laughed, Bayley found herself smiling as she considered how she was going to respond to that. A sense of humor definitely wasn't what her character was known for, but the joke had been a funny one. The laughter echoing around the arena was contagious, and eventually she cracked and laughed herself. Then some people started to cheer Jericho's idea, even though they knew it was a joke. Within seconds, everyone in the arena joined in, only adding to the comedy of the moment. It at least gave Bayley time to come up with a response.

"Commissioner," Cole said when the noise died down, still grinning.

"What a good idea!" Bayley exclaimed enthusiastically. The arena erupted into laughter again, even louder this time. Martinez making a joke certainly wasn't what they had expected. "But the truth of the matter is that I would never accept that job. There should never be a position of single general manager, taking powers away from individual shows. As I said in my first speech after the proposal of a single management structure, a single management structure is about sneaking Smackdown's policies onto Raw by the back door."

Another cheer went up from her supporters, and Bayley felt herself caught up in the moment. Without really considering it, she went off script herself, not knowing that she was about to create the most memorable moment of the whole segment. "I'm enjoying this!" she exclaimed stridently. "I'm enjoying this! Right, who's next?"

Incredulous laughter joined the cheers as her supporters roared their support, and her opponents thundered their discontent in a true cacophony of noise that was almost deafening. Just as that outburst began to fade, Bayley heard a fan in one of the front rows behind her shout out, "Take your resignation back!" Others who also heard it cheered again, agreeing with the idea.

The noise started to die down again, then Kevin Owens shouted out, "You could wipe the floor with these people!" It kicked off the cheering again, with those on the other side of the ring unable to avoid laughing. Bayley turned around and gave him a little bow.

After fielding another couple of questions, it was all over. Bayley felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as Cole brought the segment to a close by thanking her for taking part, and for her dedication to Monday Night Raw during her time in charge. He ended by applauding her, and everyone in the arena joined in. Friend of foe, everyone rose to their feet as she walked towards the ropes, which Owens held open for her. Respect was the word of the moment, and it touched Bayley deeply. All of the hard work she had put into her character felt worth it at that moment, seeing everyone applauding her.

As she walked up the ramp, she got the impression that in some ways at least, all of the fans were sad to see her leave. That was the saddest thing of all. By the time she reached the stage and turned to wave goodbye, tears were streaming down her face. It would just one of the iconic images of the night.

She walked through the curtain, leaving the show to end on a pre-recorded shot. Earlier in the night she had been shown telling one of the crew members that she wanted her office to be exactly setup exactly the way she left it for whoever was given the job as commissioner the following week. The shot was of her now empty office. There was a bottle of champagne on the desk, beside it a note written on a small card. The camera zoomed in to show the message, written in Bayley's fancy handwriting.

 _It's a wonderful job. I hope you enjoy it._

 _Bayley Martinez_

 **END**


	41. Chapter 41 - Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

Seth discretely checked his jacket pocket when Bayley turned their car onto their street. At one time, before they owned it, their house had been a disgrace to the neigbourhood. Now, almost a year later, it was at the opposite end of the scale. With the amount of money spent on it, and the quality of the work that had been done, it had to be the most valuable home in the area. That was really something to be proud of, as far as Seth was concerned.

While they had been away at Raw the previous day, the landscape gardeners that he'd hired had finished re-laying the lawn in their back garden, which had been the absolute final job needed to complete the renovations. Seth had carefully planned it that way when he'd learned of Vince McMahon's plan to remove Bayley's character from TV. The previous night had been a difficult one for Seth, especially when Bayley had come back through the curtain in floods of tears. Who would ever have expected that, after how reluctant she had been to take the new role on when it had been assigned to her?

"I'm proud of you, angel," he told her. It was the first time either of them had spoken for a few minutes.

"Why?"

"Why? Because you did such a brilliant job with the commissioner role. Because you're such an amazing person. Because I love you. Take your pick."

"I'll take because you love me," she smiled bashfully. "And I love you too, Seth."

Their house came into view ahead of them. "It looks great, doesn't it?"

"It really does. I always knew we would make it into a nice home, but now that we've done it, it kind of blows me away. I honestly feel like I'll never want to leave. If we grow old with each other in this house, I will be totally fine with that."

Seth thought about saying something about kids, but they hadn't had a serious conversation about that yet, and this wasn't the time. Maybe he could bring it up while they were on their vacation in the Caribbean, which was to begin the next day. Until he had met Bayley, he had always thought that he would never want children. Other people's kids had always annoyed him. But now that he had settled down with the love of his life, and had seen the positive effects that fatherhood had had on Dean, he was starting to think differently about it. Who knew, maybe one day Liam Ambrose would wrestle against a future Rollins child? Or if he and Bayley had a girl, maybe she could follow in her mother's footsteps as a women's champion? It was an amazing prospect to consider.

The car pulled into the driveway, and Seth snapped back to reality. If ever there was a time not to be daydreaming, this was it. "I want you to go in first, babe," he said as she killed the engine. "This is the first time we've come back to the finished house, so think we should do things right."

"Okay," Bayley gave him the kind of grin that told him she thought he was being a little strange. He was, but for a good reason.

Getting out of the car, he checked his pocket again. Yes, the box was still in there.

"I think we should get straight on with unpacking our cases and then packing again for tomorrow," Bayley said as they walked up to the front door.

"Good idea," Seth agreed for the sake of it. He knew it wasn't going to happen.

She put her key in the lock and then paused, remembering what he'd said about marking the occasion. "Are you going to carry me over the threshold or something?"

"No. That's what you do the first time you come home after getting married. But I will kiss you before we go in. Welcome home, angel. We're going to be very happy here." He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I love you, Seth."

She opened the door and walked in. Behind her, Seth reached into his pocket.

Bayley walked into the house, looking around the entrance hall, especially at the marble staircase. "We really are going to be so happy here. Everything about the atmosphere here tells you that this is a happy home." She continued looking around with a smile on her face. Then she realised that Seth hadn't answered her. When she turned around to look at him, she saw him down on one knee with a small jewelry box in his hand.

"There's only one way I figured we could be happier," he said with a big smile.

Bayley's hands flew to her mouth as she let out a squeal of surprise mixed with delight. She felt like her legs were going to give way beneath her.

Seth opened the box, revealing the 18 carat diamond engagement ring that he'd held onto for months, waiting for this moment. "Bayley, will you marry me?"

"Yes. Yes, of course I'll marry you," Bayley replied through her hands as tears filled her eyes.

"I'm going to need your finger," Seth said, grinning up at her.

"Sorry," she giggled, and held her left hand out to him while she wiped her eyes with her right.

Seth slipped the ring on to her finger, then kissed the back of her hand. "I love you, future Mrs Rollins."

"I love you too. Come here so I can hug you."

Seth got to his feet and hugged her, holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her. "So, like I said, when you come home for the first time after getting married, I'll carry you over the threshold."

"Deal," Bayley said, resting her head against his shoulder. They spent the next couple of minutes just enjoying holding each other, before Bayley decided to risk asking a question of her own that she'd had on her mind for a couple of months, but had never found the courage to bring up. "Seth, I've got the feeling right now that this is kind of the end of chapter one of our story. Does that make sense?"

"I guess so," Seth replied thoughtfully. "But there are plenty more chapters."

"Of course. What I was going to ask is, do you think one of our chapters might, uh, I'm messing this up," she said, frustrated with herself. "What I'm trying to say is, do you think we'll ever have kids. Because I would like to."

"Honestly? I used to hate the idea of having a kid. But recently, I've totally changed my mind about it. So, yes, I would like us to try for a baby, if that's what you want?"

Bayley squeezed him even tighter. "You mean, we could start trying now?"

Seth pulled back slightly to look in her eyes. "Well, we'd be better off going upstairs first."

"Idiot," she grinned back at him. "I think our chapter two is going to be as good as chapter one."

"If not better," Seth promised her, followed by a kiss on the lips. Taking her hand, he lead her up the stairs.

* * *

 _A/N: A sequel to this story has now been published. It is titled The Hugger's Return._


End file.
